Reply #21: Because he's a LIAR.

[in_cog_ni_to]

Trent Lott was BLUFFING when he said the repukes wanted a vote on the Reed/Levin amendment. THEY DON'T! That's why they've been threatening a filibuster on every freakin' amendment by a Dem (13 since January). SO, Durbin called his bluff and said they would vote at 6:00 p.m. tonight and Lott "objected." He's a LIAR and the repukes don't really want a vote. They were threatening another filibuster on this amendment, so Harry Reid has called their bluff. Now, the repukes have to filibuster before the American people. They have been exposed as the liars they are. Before, the amendments/bills would just fade away after a cloture vote and the repukes would go their merry way as if no amendments ever existed. That way they aren't 'on the record' of having voted against a bill that would have brought our troops home....which is what the MAJORITY of people in this country want and is why the Dems were put in power. Then, they could go home and say...the do nothing Dems haven't done what they were elected to do...TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME..so, elect us!. Slimy assholes that they are.

John Nichols has a GREAT piece about it here, if you wish to read it:


<snip>

Again and again, Republicans threatened to filibuster — a move that involves endless speechifying and limitless debate — in order to prevent the passage of measures designed to being bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq.

Again and again, the majority leader responded to the threats by seeking a cloture vote that, if successful, would trump the filibuster threat and allow a vote of the full Senate in favor of the anti-war position that the vast majority of Democrats and a reasonable number of Republicans say they favor. Cloture refers to the only procedure by which the Senate can place a time limit on debate, thus overcoming a threatened filibuster, and get to clarity. Cloture can only be achieved if three-fifths of the members of the Senate, normally 60 of them, vote for it.

Unfortunately for Reid, the Democratic caucus has just 51 members — a few of whom, like Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, are in the pocket of the Bush White House — and the majority leader has only a handful of Republican allies who are willing to break with the administration on cloture votes regarding Iraq.

Thus, when Reid has sought cloture, he has more often than not been thwarted by Republican leaders, who successfully hold enough of their members to prevent the limit on debate. Only when the White House has ordered Senate Republicans to back off and allow a vote, as happened on the supplemental funding measure that Bush would eventually veto, does Reid get the vote he wants.<snip>

The key is for Reid to stop giving Republicans an easy out. When GOP leaders threaten to filibuster in favor of endless war, the majority leader must continually call their bluff. That will give the president's partisan allies in the Senate political ownership of his war — and it will give the American people a clear picture of who wants to bring the troops home and who wants to leave them mired in George Bush's quagmire.<snip>




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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/17/opinion/main3065798.shtml