The bodies on the fainting couches are stacked three deep over at the Washington Post this morning.

[WilliamPitt]

Boy o boy, the bodies on the fainting couches are stacked three deep over at the Washington Post this morning.

Dana Milbank: "The Democrats’ naked power grab...they will come to deeply regret what they have done."

Ruth Marcus (and Charles Pierce called this one a mile away): "In filibuster fight, the Democrats go too far...Have senators fully thought this through?"

Etc.

The magic here is that both articles spend 97.4% of their respective column space describing how disastrously screwed up the Senate is because of relentless GOP obstruction...but it is the Democrats who have gone "too far."

Natch.

Hm...let's say the GOP does take back the Senate in 2014. They're not nominating anyone. Let's say they take back the White House in 2016. A GOP White House and a GOP Senate will get the nominees they want anyway.

I'm not seeing the tremendous peril here...but then again, I'm not a big-time hotshot cocktail-circuit DC columnist who thinks everything would be just ducky if only the Democrats played nice.

Oy.

On edit: I expanded on this and turned it into a blog post: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18332-pitt-fainting-couches-washington-post

[cali]

1. kudos for a well turned phrase

bunch of assholes.

[The Wizard]

54. Click Like if you think

McConnell should be drug tested. He really said that Senate Republicans have been very fair with the president. Fair is a four letter word starting with F.

[spanone]

2. and at the nytimes: Democracy Returns to the Senate

For five years, Senate Republicans have refused to allow confirmation votes on dozens of perfectly qualified candidates nominated by President Obama for government positions. They tried to nullify entire federal agencies by denying them leaders. They abused Senate rules past the point of tolerance or responsibility. And so they were left enraged and threatening revenge on Thursday when a majority did the only logical thing and stripped away their power to block the president’s nominees.

In a 52-to-48 vote that substantially altered the balance of power in Washington, the Senate changed its most infuriating rule and effectively ended the filibuster on executive and judicial appointments. From now on, if any senator tries to filibuster a presidential nominee, that filibuster can be stopped with a simple majority, not the 60-vote requirement of the past. That means a return to the democratic process of giving nominees an up-or-down vote, allowing them to be either confirmed or rejected by a simple majority.

The only exceptions are nominations to the Supreme Court, for which a filibuster would still be allowed. But now that the Senate has begun to tear down undemocratic procedures, the precedent set on Thursday will increase the pressure to end those filibusters, too.

This vote was long overdue. “I have waited 18 years for this moment,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/opinion/democracy-returns-to-the-senate.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print

[babylonsister]

3. And it was ever thus...

I'm so not surprised; they're boring me with their predictability.

[madinmaryland]

4. The real question is what does MoDo think about this!!!

[elleng]

52. Mebbe you'll find out this weekend, mad,

but I surely won't, NEVER read her!

How are things going?

[Ninga]

5. Of course. Exactly. Facts matter. But not for the corporate media. Nt

[The Magistrate]

6. The Cherry On Top Of a Whipped Cream Morning, Sir

Leader Reid did the right thing, and the whimperings over it simply add enjoyment....

[IrishAyes]

13. I don't consider this the finer part of my character, but

I can't help relishing the karmic pain of such evil people. They need to pay up big time. They're not poor sheep led astray; they're ravening wolves, my apologies to the 4-footed variety.

[lonestarnot]

7. Funny dat headline.

[JaneyVee]

8. "Power grab", this from a party that gerrymanders every district and

Suppresses voting to ensure lifetime control.

[dickthegrouch]

38. ^^^^ This is what needs to get out more ^^^^

I view this as intention, not a warning: "they will come to deeply regret what they have done"
Anyone declaring such an intention should be thoroughly investigated IMHO.

I heard McConnell yesterday declaring the "Democrats broke the rules" - F'ing liar. They changed them in a way that the republicans had previously suggested changing them.

I reiterate, lying to the entire country must be made a crime, punishable by immediate suspension from office, and summary removal from office if proven to be a pattern of three or more lies.

[TBF]

44. thank you. nt

[butterfly77]

47. Exactly..

but u never hear this from the so called media

[IrishAyes]

9. Wish I could rec this X1M, Mr. Pitt; one of your finest.

Not that you ever disappoint, even on those rare occasions that find a little daylight between us. I consider you one of the finest writers on DU, and there's LOTS of competition around here. Probably one reason I like the place.

Sooner or later the Repugs' hubris and hypocrisy will overturn their applecart. And I hope that spells their everlasting political doom.

[reflection]

19. I'll second that. Will Pitt is a treasure. n/t

[trishtrash]

27. Ditto! I luv Mr. Pitt. Keep it comin', dude.

[IrishAyes]

29. I hope he doesn't object to my addressing him as Mister Pitt;

There have been literary and historical figures known to me (secondhand) as Mr. Pitt, and out of my own habit and experience, the surname seems a little naked without its customary title.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. What fun, this schadenfreude!!

Makes my weekend.

[saidsimplesimon]

39. Dinah, love the snark (below)

(weekends, lifted from the net)

Macbeth:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

[madrchsod]

11. oh my, the kind ladies and gentlemen of the post have the vapors...

oh my, oh my, what ever shall they do?

[Rex]

12. They get to pretend that both parties are the same.

Makes their paymasters happy.

[lapislzi]

14. I remember "playing nice."

I also remember what it got us, as a party, and as a nation.

Fuck those guys.

[Blue_Tires]

15. +1000

Any DUers around during the "keep your powder dry" years of 05-08 remember it all too well...

[Nancy Waterman]

16. GOP would end the filibuster in the first minute

If they were to win the Senate. Might as well get some judges in before that is a risk. If we keep the Senate, all the better.
These guys fight dirty and are tyrants at heart. No way they would allow the Dems to have any power as a minority.

[Lex]

25. ^^This.

[flamingdem]

17. yeah, right

[HappyMe]

18. Boohoo.

They were told that this may happen. It's all the sweeter because it really is on them that this step had to be taken.

[malaise]

20. Delish topic headline

Fugu 'em!

[riderinthestorm]

21. If the Rethugs gain the majority, they can simply change the rule back right?

I mean, if they really think the Dems went "too far" and they find this rule change soooo bad, they can just reverse it when/if they gain the majority again.


(I know, I know that won't ever happen but how come none of the pundits are pointing this out? Because, duh, the Rethugs will never do that - they're going to simply seize on this and take it further....)

[FSogol]

22. K & R. n/t

[magical thyme]

23. I was thinking the more they threaten, the better that make this move

but then I started thinking maybe that's what they *want* me to think. Maybe they're faking the upset.

I think I'll stick with schadenfreude. Starts my day off with the right 'tude.

[Laelth]

24. I need to go into the violin-selling business.

I find myself using a lot of them today.



-Laelth

[fredamae]

26. Nahhh-what is obvious here

is how Media Pundits manipulate Public conversations and How we are Supposed to think about events that used to be status quo...

They've been doing this for decades--but as More people begin to pay attention--that which used to be veiled and "bs gently blended" with a few facts is now starkly evident...
It's up to us to reject or accept the Media's "rules of public debate"...

We'll either ignore them or keep buying their work.
The solution to end Bad Media--is purely up to Us.

[FarCenter]

28. Requiring a supermajority in a legislative body is a bad thing.

It prevents the majority party in control from passing its program.

It dilutes responsibility for the program, since members can assert that it was "bipartisan".

[2naSalit]

30. Sounds like the

whaaaambulance might be working overtime for the next few weeks.

[ErikJ]

31. They probably would have done the same thing as soon as they got the majority. No honor

They promised to stop the filibusters last summer which they broke immedicately. They have no honor or honesty.

[Ian_rd]

32. Also - how fast do you think the Republicans would have

... gone nuclear if they won back the Senate and the Whitehouse?

Faster than you can say Justice Ted Cruz.

[libodem]

33. Cue

The smelling salts team: ahhh, the sharp smell of ammonia in the morning.

[AlbertCat]

34. A this point in time.....

....does anyone go to the Beltway Press for anything but to, out of curiosity, see how out of touch, in a bubble and wrong they are? I mean, you don't trust them for accuracy do you? It's more a freak show of delusion....kinda like the Kardashians.

[Roland99]

35. Considering we already have "Scalito" on the Supreme Court, yes, i agree

How is this the Dems going too far?

IOkIYAAR


Sick and fucking tired of that. Esp. coming from the "liberal" media!

[Skittles]

36. have they thought this through

they've probably been thinking it through since 2009

[rock]

37. Natch

Well put.

[JNelson6563]

40. And yet still not as deep as the stupid.

[kentuck]

41. Tell me what the Republicans would do different??

If they had the Presidency and the Senate, they would change whatever rules were in place if the rules prohibited them from achieving their agenda.

Brilliant move by the Democrats, in my humble opinion.

[DonCoquixote]

42. We should have stopped playing nice 20 years ago

The nation has suffered enough under GOP lunacy...

[kentuck]

43. This may have saved the progressive wing of the Democratic Party?

I know that some progressives have already left and many more were thinking of leaving. This may keep them in the Party and may make the Democratic Party stronger in the next election?

[Major Hogwash]

45. Milbank quit going on MSNBC when Olbermann was there because he said "it was just an echo chamber".

Yet, the naked racism that has been demonstrated by the Rethuglicans for the last 5 years seems to be just hunky-dory for him.

It became apparent to me, and to both of my brothers, a long time ago that the Rethuglicans were blocking everything President Obama tried to do because they want to make the first Black President of the United States appear to be ineffective.

That way, the next time a Black man runs for the White House, they can say "well, Black men just can't run the country as well as white men, just look at how Obama floundered when he was the President".

It's the same naked racism that kept Black men from becoming the quarterback for a professional football team for so long.
It's the same naked racism that kept Black men from becoming the coach for a professional football team for so many years.

It's just naked, blatant racism, that's all it is.

[markpkessinger]

46. My comment on Millbank's column

Here is the text of a comment I posted in response to Millbank's column in the Post:

Spare us the pearl clutching, Mr. Millbank.

To defend the filibuster as the GOP has been using it requires one to believe that the framers of the Constitution intended to permit a procedural rule of one legislative chamber, employed by a minority faction within that chamber to prevent the full body of the Senate from exercising its Constitutional role of advise and consent with respect to executive branch nominations, and thereby also effectively giving a minority faction in one chamber of the legislature the ability prevent a president from exercising his or her Constitutionally-appointed power of appointment. That is so utterly illogical as to be absurd. If it were a matter of the minority having principled objections to the nominees in quewstion, then your argument might hold water. But the fact is Republicans have been abusing the filibuster since this President took office, using it not merely in cases where they have a principled objection to a particular nominee, but to actually deny a sitting President the power of appointments provided to his office by the Constitution. They even used it to try to impede the functioning of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, by refusing to permit a vote on ANY nominee at all to head that agency. The GOP's employment of the filibuster has been an egregious abuse of the rule.

I remind you that the Constitution does not contemplate the existence of political parties, so any suggestion that there is, or should be, any requirement whatsoever to "win votes" from the minority party is sheer nonsense. The "two centuries of custom" to which you refer was already irrpeparably broken, and the constant use of it by the GOP for specious reasons had transformed it into something that bore little resemblance to the filibuster as understood 200 years ago.

[Doctor_J]

49. Outstanding, mpk

Very well-written

[dchill]

48. K & R.

[kelliekat44]

50. If it looks like the GOP will take the Senate then Reid should just reverse his latest rule on this.

[The Wizard]

56. Let's say the Repubes take the Senate (Zeus forbid)

Reid still has a couple of months to restore the filibuster sham in a lame duck session. Then when the fascists assume the majority they can eliminate the filibuster all together, which is what they will do if given the opportunity.
If the Washington Post believes McConnell and the rest of his rabid Party are honest brokers then the Washington Post should become the Washington Past.
"The Senate Republicans have been very fair with the President." Really Mitch? Fuck you and the rest of your lying fascist butt plugs.

[elleng]

51. OY indeed.

Happy I don't subscribe anymore.

[Piedras]

53. Who was it that declared the permanent Republican majority?

I seem to remember back in the Bush II administration a declaration of a permanent Republican majority. Can't remember who voiced the idea. The "nuclear option" rules change helps blunt that nightmare. Bravo!!

[99Forever]

55. Just one thing to "say."

[moose65]

57. Another good thing about this...

There will be NO political fallout from this, IMO. The average voter out there doesn't give two shits about the Senate rules. I'd wager to guess that most people don't even know what a filibuster is - all they hear is that the Senate can't confirm President Obama's nominees. This kind of thing doesn't fit easily on a bumper sticker, either! I just don't see the "masses" getting all riled up about changing a Senate rule. As much as we might hate to say it when Republicans are in power, the majority SHOULD rule, whether we like it or not. Elections do have consequences, and this hopefully will help to motivate Democrats to get out the vote in any and all elections.