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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumJon Stewart Praises GOP Senator For Talking Filibuster For Right Reason (VIDEO)
Republican Senator Rand Paul filibustered the nomination of John Brennan yesterday. He used the filibuster the way it was intended to be used; to get answers and to pose arguments for the minority holding up a vote. The filibuster was even joined by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden (OR) The filibuster lasted almost 13 hours.
According to the New York Times
The filibuster started just before noon on Wednesday, with Mr. Paul ostensibly objecting to Mr. Brennans nomination. But in fact, Mr. Pauls main concerns were those of the civil liberties and Constitutional rights, which he said are under attack by the administrations potential use of unmanned drone strikes on American citizens on United States soil. (By Mr. Pauls own admission, Mr. Brennan, who as the White House counterterrorism adviser was the chief architect of the largely clandestine drone program, served as a good proxy.)
What will be the standard for how we kill Americans in America? Mr. Paul asked at one point. Could political dissent be part of the standard for drone strikes?
The filibuster started just before noon on Wednesday, with Mr. Paul ostensibly objecting to Mr. Brennans nomination. But in fact, Mr. Pauls main concerns were those of the civil liberties and Constitutional rights, which he said are under attack by the administrations potential use of unmanned drone strikes on American citizens on United States soil. (By Mr. Pauls own admission, Mr. Brennan, who as the White House counterterrorism adviser was the chief architect of the largely clandestine drone program, served as a good proxy.)
What will be the standard for how we kill Americans in America? Mr. Paul asked at one point. Could political dissent be part of the standard for drone strikes?
Rand Paul won over Jon Stewart for this one act, his past bad deeds notwithstanding.
Rand Paul had sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking just a simple question. Can the President use a drone to take out an American citizen on US soil? Youd think you would get a letter back like No way!. Holder writes him back a letter that while never addressing the question kind of sort of imply that hypothetically in the right YES, yes we can do that. We can do that we probably wont yes. So Senator Rand Paul to draw a little attention to the issue of the execution of executive executions executed the classical school filibuster. I mean he is out there talking. This isnt one of those oo I am not going to do anything. He is using the filibuster the way it is meant to be used.
See Video HERE.
Ultimately Rand Paul use of the filibuster in the form he used it should be commended by all. Hopefully he will set a precedent for others in his party to follow. Hopefully the mainstream media will scold Republican Senators going forward in this session as they attempt to silent filibuster bills necessary to move forward.
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Jon Stewart Praises GOP Senator For Talking Filibuster For Right Reason (VIDEO) (Original Post)
egbertowillies
Mar 2013
OP
villager
(26,001 posts)1. How come, because a Democrat did, so many support drones here?
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)2. I don't think this is a matter of supporting drones.
It seems more to be an acknowledgement that Sen. Paul properly used the filibuster, as a means to address questions to the administration about a questionable program.
I also think that Sen. Paul used this filibuster properly, regardless of my opinions about the use of weaponized drones.
Hippo_Tron
(25,453 posts)3. Partly because it's hard to accept that the Republicans might actually be right about something
It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf. If they didn't filibuster virtually every single nominee of the President's, it might be easier for people to swallow the fact that they have legitimate reasons for doing so in this one particular case.