As many of us activists had intuited, the Dems never actually had to fear the so called "nuclear option" which Frist had threatened to use during the SCOTUS nomination process. Of course much of that was revealed after the failed filibuster and final vote to confirm Judge Elite-O was counted, but i'm not confident that most activists on DU really learned that particular lesson at the time. Or even that most people remember it.
Just as the decision to go to war on Iraq - which WE ALL KNEW were based on lies and deception - so too, were other key legislative actions which were taken and which could have been successfully opposed by the Dems, (despite minority status) but for reasons we can only speculate they chose not to fight or push back. I won't enumerate the long list of egregious legislative decisions, because i think most of us would almost rather forget than to hold our elected leaders accountable for many of those bad decisions. But I suggest strongly, in fact i vehemently urge Democratic rank and file and "net-root activists" do hold our Democratic leaders accountable on actions and inactions which they were in the position to impact (had they only decided to) such as the failure to back Feingold on his Resolution for Censure or the failure to unite together behind the filibuster on judge Elite-O.
The quote in the subject table is taken from a writer who I rarely (if ever) quote simply because he has no credibility in my eyes on most matters which concern America, but this article is aimed to his neo con readers and other Repukes (as opposed to Liberals)which is excerpted below. It confirms what many of us intuited.. and I think that as we go forward in the next election cycle, that we hold those in office running for re-election accountable on these votes. Never let anyone get away with suggesting that the "Nuclear Option" was a viable threat because this article shows how it was never a real threat at any time.
Prognosis Looks Grim, DocWhy would a man universally described as kind and intelligent suddenly start acting like a dodo? Presidential ambition, of course.by Joe Klein
(snip)
Why would a man universally described as kind and intelligent suddenly start acting like a dodo? Presidential ambition, of course. Frist's descent began a year ago, when he destroyed his reputation for medical probity by announcing, on the Senate floor, that he had seen the videotapes of Terri Schiavo, "and from my standpoint as a physician, I would be very careful before I would come to the floor and say this ... Based on the footage provided me ... she does respond." This was utter nonsense, as subsequent autopsies of Schiavo's brain proved. "He didn't have to go that far," another Republican Senator told me. "He simply could have opposed pulling the plug on Schiavo."
A series of terrible leadership moves have ensued. There was Frist's effort to deploy the "nuclear option" — that is, to perform radical surgery on the Senate's filibuster rules in order to allow votes on President Bush's more extreme judicial appointments. But the nuclear option was thwarted when 14 Senate moderates cut a deal to keep the rules and allow votes on some of the appointees. "We saved him on that," said a G.O.P. staff member involved in the negotiations. "Frist never had the votes he needed for the nuclear option." More recently, Frist has embarrassed himself on the Dubai Ports deal. He was one of the first Republicans to oppose the deal--his opposition made it safe for the rest of the party to buck President Bush--but he immediately retreated after a White House briefing. "As I've gotten more information, I have a greater comfort level," he said. Translation: I shot my mouth off before I knew anything because I wanted to thrill the G.O.P. base.
And now there is immigration. "He forced us to rush a bill," said a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee. "Then he didn't like what we produced"— Frist spent a few days opposing any bill that would include a process to make illegal immigrants legal—" and so he filed his own bill, which is dead on delivery. He's not even part of the real negotiations at this point. It's pretty sad." cont..
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,1179318,00.html
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