You are missing an important consideration pertaining to Senate rules and procedure. If we go for a full-fledged filibuster on each nominee, only one RAT has to be present talking for hours on end, while the majority caucus has to be present at essentially all times.
The RATS have 40+ Senators that can trade out their talking space, while the rest of them hammer away on the MSM, and the rest filter out in the country to local news outlets and do fundraisers. Meanwhile the majority Republicans are stuck in session having to vote on roll call after roll call.
It's just the rules.
mwl1I used to believe that too.
You are missing an important consideration pertaining to Senate rules and procedure. If we go for a full-fledged filibuster on each nominee, only one RAT has to be present talking for hours on end, while the majority caucus has to be present at essentially all times.
But why was a motion for cloture filed on Friday and the actual cloture vote couldn't occur until Tuesday morning?
Debate can be ended either by unanomous consent, which can happen any time, or by cloture. And cloture requires 60 votes to close debate. But if I understand the rules as they are now, that doesn't mean that all the Republicans have to be present the whole time that debate is happening. The aren't all there right now. The weren't all there on any day last week. They don't have to be there until a vote is scheduled, and there's a roll call vote on a procedural motion this afternoon, and a cloture vote scheduled for tomorrow morning.
If that fails, the smart thing to do is to schedule another cloture vote in two days, and to continue to debate the nominee. But forget about changing the rules in the middle of the game. That's what the Dems want because that will be unpopular and the Dems and their media buddies can use that against the Republicans any time they want. Why give them that to beat us over the head with?
Most filibusters are eventually broken. Filibusters against popular items are usually broken quickly. The Dems can't hold this one for long. It will hurt them. The only thing giving them hope now is if they can make it hurt the Republicans worse. What's sad is the Republicans are looking for a way to hurt themselves.