It appears that Harry Reid may have enough support in his own caucus to exercise the nuclear option if the Republicans filibuster the president’s nominations to head the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He is only considering eliminating the filibuster for nominations, not for legislation, but he has clearly put the Republicans on notice that they cannot continue to obstruct everything. I think there is a constitutional argument that the Senate’s role is to advise and consent on presidential nominations and it is illegitimate to prevent a vote on them.
Obviously, we would like the power to block presidential nominees when we are in the minority, particularly judicial nominees. But, ultimately, the majority is supposed to be able to govern.
Will the GOP sense the danger and relent on their obstruction of the president’s nominations? Or will they waddle into the threshing blades?
Reid has screamed wolf too many times for anyone to believe him.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
and the republicans won’t waddle into the thresher blades, they’ll march dramatically into them, in lockstep
If I were to see it, it would take a few days before I believed it.
I mean, I’m certainly rooting for it to happen, but color me skeptical.
ok, charlie brown.
Threshing blades? With Reid it’s more like lashes with a wet noodle.
If he actually did it and it applied to judicial appointments as well, then sure, we can dream. I concur with the others…I hear a little boy desperate for attention whimpering in the background.
Totally agree.
Of course, it would make a TON of sense to do this since when in the minority Democrats almost never filibuster a nomination. I can’t think of one where they did – Clarence Thomas, for example, was approved 52-47. Therefore, the “won’t you want the filibuster for when you are in the minority” doesn’t apply here. Too many Cowarddems in the Senate.
Harry’s not going to do anything of the sort.
threshing blades?
…more like wading through the sternly worded letters, as always.
I sense a consensus growing in the comment section.
indeed. And that’s what happens when you threaten to do something but never follow through.
A game of chicken in the paralyzed senate for all the marbles? Does Addison McConnell actually believe Harry’s “threat” after so many feckless retreats to keep the powder dry? I doubt it. Hapless Harry can’t even get the retiring Levin to shut his trap.
But the nominations are comin’ to the floor and Team Repub will have to do something.
It’s a shame to lose the minority power to block corrupt and insane (always Repub) nominees, but Repub abuse intentionally forced the system into total paralysis. Mitch’s Repubs decided to destroy the Olde Tyme senate, they decided to force a radical change upon the senate with their policy of Obstruct Everything.
If the Dems are really going to do it, they better have their message ready and the talking points lambasting Repub abuse and obstruction ready to go. They should be preparing the ground now, predicting filibusters by McConnell on all the nominations. Hopefully the WH can also deliver a message that blames McConnell and his Repubs directly and specifically. Repubs are to blame, Repubs are to blame—it’s easy!
But one would be a fool to predict anything other than doleful head hanging and serious finger wagging by Hapless Harry at this point. Always hopin’ for his “New Day in the Senate”. Quite the boxer, jeebus. He must’ve won his youthful victories on points!
I have read that some of those who objected last time around are seeing things differently. And I think bringing this up now is the start of what you are talking about. I have seen more and more articles talking about the lack of votes on nominations, specially judgeships and I expect to see more.
All that said, I will remain skeptical of anything being done. But, if Harry is serious, I doubt if McConnell and the other Republicans take him seriously, so they will blindly walk into it.
Maybe if he stamps his feet they’ll acquiesce.
Oh boy is he mad now. They know not to mess with Harry year after year after year…,.
I think these comments blaming Reid for the problem are misguided.
If there aren’t 51 Democrats willing to change the cloture rules, then the cloture rules don’t get changed, no matter who sits in the Majority Leader’s chair.
If this leak is deliberate, then it means 1-4 Democratic senators who were not on board in January have changed their minds.
I’ll believe it when I see it. I certainly won’t bet all five cents of my life’s savings on it happening, though.
Harry Reid has certainly earned all the abuse he’s getting in the comments, but the threat has now been made. It would not have been made now if things had not changed.
My questions were really aimed at finding out what is more likely, the Republicans heeding the threat or them not heeding the threat.
Did Reid really think Yurtle the Turtle was going to live up to his January bargain? I can bet no one here did. You can say Reid doesn’t deserve all the blame. I disagree. Why? Why has it taken 4 1/2 years for the Democratic caucus to learn a lesson they should have learned even before Obama took office. What did Yurtle the Turtle say was his only mission? Did Democratic Senators really think Yurtle was bluffing?
We’re talking about probably 2-4 senators out of the entire caucus, a single digit %.
There are a lot of old-school Democratic senators who are really attached to the vision of “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” as it existed in the good old days. To these lovers of the Senate as an institution, the phrase “turn us into the House of Representatives” (by becoming majoritarian and limiting the power of individual senators) is a bone-chilling prospect.
There is more going on here than the dynamics of parties as unified blocs.
Notice how I said that Reid has earned the abuse and Calvin said that I said that he had not earned the abuse and that he disagreed with me?
What’s up with that?
I read that as (emphasis added):
Which is not really disagreement that Reid deserves blame, but rather is a hypothetical. However, re-reading the thread, it seems that Calvin is attributing “joe from Lowell”‘s remarks to you,Booman, or is answering the wrong post(s).
Is that clarification by me or just more muddying of the waters?
Calvin, would you clarify, please?
Sorry, the “doesn’t” was a typo. I didn’t proof-read before I hit post. I guess you could say I pulled a Yglesias. That and just tired of the Charlie Brown/Lucy act from Reid.
So I’m no Perry Mason.
Display a stack of the papers submitted to the IRA by a teabag scammer and the stack submitted by an Obama nominee. Any guesses on which stack would be higher?
Feh. I’ve given up on taking Reid, or the Senate Democrats, or the Democrats in general, seriously. If they wanted to stand up and fight back they would have started to do so some time during the Cheney regency. They didn’t do so then and they haven’t done so yet. They are more part of the problem than they are a part of the solution.
Well, Reid may well pull the trigger. But I would expect that no one on the Dem side has given a minutes thought as to how to prepare the messaging for the uproar after it happens. And they will once again be caught flat-footed in an entirely predictable circumstance.
But hey, maybe my cynicism is just getting the best of me. Certainly no cause to be cynical, right??
“The constitution demands the Senate consent and advise the present on its nominees. The republicans are preventing delivering that consent. Their filibusters of executive nominees are un-Constitutional. If they really believed these nominees were clearly unsuitable, then they would vote against them and they wouldn’t be confirmed.”
Right. And according to Sy Hersh, the US is going to attack Iran very soon. /s
What a miserable gang you guys are today. I have little doubt that Cesar Chavez and Rachel Carson (as far as the GOP is concerned) will get their expedited confirmations now and become cabinet secretaries, that a few judicial noms will trickle through, and the Republicans will nevertheless hold out against the CFPB like grim death.
What’s the point of being so whiny and cynical when you know the minority always ends up caving in these little senate feuds? I’m just bummed they didn’t come up with some sort of Gang of X this time, they seem to get a real morale boost whenever they do that. Keeps ’em happy.
If they could bring Lieberman back, they could have the Gang of Ick.
Harry Reid – threshing blades! HA HA HA HAHA HA Hooo hee heee! Woo boy Good One!
Why would the GOP “sense danger” now? How many times as the coming Dem conflagration turned out to be a flickering xmas tree light? It would be nice to be wrong, but it would be nice to win the lottery, too, and the odds feel about the same. Maybe the silver lining is that if Harry turns to liquid yet again there will be enough disgust to warrant firing him.
Come on, Martin.
If you were going to put money on this, which outcome would you put money on?
The GOP has the idiots in the media all ginned up over non-scandals. They’re not going to pay any attention to some filibusters on Cabinet appointees that have impeccable credentials.
IOKIYAR
P.S. I am a little drunk, so my hostility towards the fools and fuckheads on the other side is wearing thin.