Harry Reid Winks At Revisiting Filibuster Reform
Source: TPM
Sen. Rand Pauls (R-KY) nearly 13-hour long talking filibuster in protest of the Obama administrations drone policy instantly made him a folk hero with the right. But the spectacle also provided a healthy dose of oxygen to reignite the cause of filibuster reform.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) capitalized on Pauls talkathon to invoke the importance of a traditional filibuster where obstructing senators occupy the floor and speak until one side gives in.
We should all reflect on what happened yesterday as we proceed with other nominations, including a number of judicial nominations, Reid said. This can be a Senate were ideas are debated in full public view and obstruction happens in full public view as well. Or it can be a Senate where a small minority obstructs from behind closed doors, without ever coming to the Senate floor.
Ironically, on the same day as Pauls talking filibuster, Senate Republicans quietly filibustered the judicial nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the coveted D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, by withholding the votes to let her move forward. Reid used the juxtaposition to go after the GOPs practice of filibustering in the dark.
Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/harry-reid-filibuster-reform.php?ref=fpb
Autumn
(45,120 posts)kidding someone, a joke so to speak. Harry seems to do that a lot so I sure as hell don't take what he says serious.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)... yeah, no thanks on that.
lsewpershad
(2,620 posts)and grow some and reform the filibuster already.
mpcamb
(2,878 posts)And correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't remember ever saying anything positive about Rand Paul before
.
Still, if any Obama nominee ever needed a filibuster it's Brennan,
He's neck deep in Black Ops, illegal kidnappings, torture, Guantanamo, the mess that is Home Land Security and targeting Americans on our own soil.
Still, get it done. Limit filibuster to standing there and either defending a valid position or yapping till you drop.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)See my post downthread, #39.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)I don't take these clowns seriously anymore. They sure as hell don't take what they're doing seriously.
When I see no one complaining about postal services, and yet they are being dismantled as we watch. As we see the hypocritical motions towards Iran. And no universal health care. No simple and foolproof voting. Billion dollar election cycles.
Blows raspberries in their general direction.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)A wussy, turtle-kissing impotent.
lark
(23,158 posts)He totally disgusts me!
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Anything you have left is thanks to Harry Reid filibustering for eight fucking years. As just one example, President Bush and congressional goons pushed as hard as they could to force your Social Security to be invested in the stock market, just before the banks crashed it out. Harry Reid personally read a local history of his home town into the Congressional Record in order to prevent that from happening.
For the past four years, Republicans tried to do exactly the same thing, but they ultimately failed because they are not as artful, creative, or familiar with the rules as is Reid. Reid and President Obama crafted the expiration of the tax cuts in such a way that no matter what the GOP did, those cuts would expire.
And what do you know? Ninety days after taxes were raised on the filthy rich, they started spending their money in the United States again. The stock market set a record, unemployment is falling, and happy days, which some of you in your thirties have never seen as adults, may finally be here again--none of which would have happened without the personal touch of Harry Reid's relentless struggle for us.
Here's a deal for you. Before you talk shit about Reid, why don't you start by defining Reid's job and what he has done lately. That, at least, will force you to minimally inform yourselves before you go carrying water for the other side.
cliffordu
(30,994 posts)Firebrand Gary
(5,044 posts)This underscores a huge problem we have within our party. Harry Reid has gotten boatloads of items done, which no other Senator in the upper chamber would have been able to pull off. We (some people) believe that unless we get every single thing that we want out of the Senate, we are somehow performing sub-par. In reality, we are lucky to have gotten the quantity and quality that we have already received.
For some, no piece of legislation will ever be sufficient. It could have always been "better". That my friends, is the enemy of progress...
sendero
(28,552 posts).... he is nothing more or less than the "good cop". You'd have to be a tool to not see what is happening here. Oops, lots of folks don't.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)What machine gun nest is Harry gonna take out today??? His recent secret handshake "agreement" with Turtle - AFTER making it CLEAR he was gonna take decisive action on the FB...... How's that go again: "Fool me a couple dozen times, shame on....who?"
zeemike
(18,998 posts)And it seems that no matter how many times they get it played on them they still fall for it...
But it helps if you have shills telling them it is not a game but strait up.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)so maybe harry didnt have enough dems backing him to get the reform through
CatWoman
(79,302 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)rules. By not proceeding with the vote at that time it left the door open to revisit the issue. Had they voted and it had not passed there would be no going back. Now are you bashers just not paying attention or are you trolls?
totodeinhere
(13,059 posts)51 votes. But if he didn't have the votes he should have worked harder to get them.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)but it will now
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)you are saying is that whatever else happens, the Blue Dogs must not be called out over their obstruction in the senate, because if there was ever a time for the democratic leadership to throw down the gauntlet over party unity, filibuster reform was it and they didn't and the consequences have been very bad indeed.
totodeinhere
(13,059 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)I'm tired to the point of desperation of hearing about how powerless the Democratic Party Leaders are. If they have so little desire to lead, then they should all just get the fuck outta the way
Phlem
(6,323 posts)coulda woulda shoulda's
Your all talk Harry, EVERYBODY knows that.
-p
Botany
(70,589 posts)totodeinhere
(13,059 posts)I respect him for doing a bona fide old fashioned filibuster. That's the way filibusters should be. We can also remember Senator Sander's talking filibuster in 2010. That's another example.
But those non talking filibusters conceived behind closed doors need to be eliminated. Even if the GOP took control of the Senate I would oppose those types of filibusters because I have to be consistent.
Mz Pip
(27,453 posts)Harry had his chance and blew it.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Talking about "revisiting" filibuster reform is asinine since--I believe--in the middle of the session it would require a super majority. What are the odds?
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)They could have done it with a simple majority on the first day.
Sure wish we had an LBJ as Senate Majority Leader, instead of Harry the Weak and Mild.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)(B.) As for Harry Reid and filibuster (non)reform, call him "Obama's useful idiot."
Lobo27
(753 posts)That woman knows how to be a leader.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)y
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Stopped any attempt to hold people responsible for crimes committed under Bush...that sure was a big accomplishment. And I am sure the rewards for that will just keep coming.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)Nika
(546 posts)it is long overdue time to go back to the old way of doing this method of obstruction of the Senate instead of the current way of doing it.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)There seems to be some confusion here, I think due to the incorrect use of the word "ironically" in the TPM article. Reid is using Paul's talking filibuster as an example of legitimate Senate process, and the steathy "cloture vote" filibuster on Halligan's nomination as an example of what should not be allowed. So he is on the right side of this.
No teeth to his words, though, he still isn't doing anything about it. Maybe he can't, but I think he's content to voice the correct position without doing the heavy lifting required to get the votes for actual filibuster reform (since he didn't bring it up for a vote before he still has that option, unless I'm mistaken.)
His remark about successful filibusters was actually funny.
I have been involved in a few filibusters, as Rand Paul did yesterday, Reid said. And what I have learned from my experiences in talking filibusters is this: to succeed, you need strong convictions but also a strong bladder. Its obvious Senator Paul has both.
Coolest Ranger
(2,034 posts)markpkessinger
(8,401 posts)"Winks" as in playing more games. Asshole.