Posted on 11/22/2013 1:41:45 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"...As Majority Leader Harry Reid orchestrated the change in the rules governing executive nominations and lower-court appointments, his opponents cried tyranny, though they also promised that when they took power they would go further, applying the new standard to Supreme Court nominations. In other words, tyranny—but we promise we'll give you more of it. The new rules fit with that kind of Senate.
...Whoever is ultimately at fault for the rule change—the Democrats who forced it or the Republicans who blocked the nominations requiring the new rules—the result is that the minority will have less power. That means elections will matter even more than they did before. Every Republican campaign now has more incentive to fight harder to win the six seats needed to take back the Senate in the 2014 election. Presidential elections now mean more, too. Reid’s move will secure Obama's legacy because the new nominees to the appeals court will be in a position to protect his achievements. Moderate senators will hold more power. Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor and Joe Manchin voted against the rule change. In the future, in a closely divided Senate, they are the kind of senators who will be the key vote to give or deny the majority their nominee. Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat, also voted against the new rules, but he's retiring, making way for another rookie. If the rookie is a Republican, one of his or her first tasks may be changing the rules again.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
RUSH: I have a brief question for Senator McCain, Senator Susan Collins, and the rest. How is that "working across the aisle" thing working out for you now with this nuclear option thing? You stuck your hand out across the aisle to shake hands with 'em, and now you gotta somehow reach around and take a knife outta your back.
The Senate was mortally wounded a century ago, by the 17th Amendment.
Many people point out that originally the requirement was only for a simple majority, but of course that was in the days before the Senators were popularly elected.
Republicans should WALK OUT.. With no vote, there is no reason to stay. Better to go home and campaign against tyranny.
Dear Rush: Mccane, collins and the rest are fine with that. GOPe.
As anyone in Washington knows, the best way to get political cover for something controversial is to let your opponents do it themselves.
“.......[Harry] Reid clinched support for changing the rules at the weekly Tuesday Senate Democratic caucus lunch.
.....Reid, without mentioning the colleague’s name, told his caucus that one of its senior members who had long opposed filibuster reform, recently had a change of mind and privately urged him to trigger the controversial tactic.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) then rose before the room full of Democrats and identified herself as the recent convert.
“She got up right afterward and said, ‘He was talking about me,’” said a Democratic senator..... ?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3094249/posts
Let's stop pretending the Senate has ever been a respected, deliberative governing body -- at least in our lifetimes. When you have a bloated, drunken slob like Ted Kennedy hold a lifetime seat in that organization, I would hope we all would have laughed the place off as a joke years ago.
One’s mind wanders to visions of the U.N.
Someone with a TV camera must have arrived: "Me, Me, Me, Over here!"
The U.S. Senate is going the way of the old Roman Senate; a bunch of old elites who want prestige without responsibility and who will rubber stamp whatever the Emperor wants.
The U.S. Senate is going the way of the old Roman Senate; a bunch of old elites who want prestige without responsibility and who will rubber stamp whatever the Emperor wants.
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