Comments on: Obstructacular.

Obstructacular.

Flunkie — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:43:45 -0800

"If this pace of blocking legislation continues, this 110th Congress will be on track to roughly triple the previous record". Ah, for the halcyon days of yore, when obstuctionism was so obviously unconstitutional that it required a nuclear response.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:24:24 -0800

The neat thing about having set the bar so high for cloture (and anti-veto power, I might add) is that it allows the President to continue with any course of action as long as he can count on 41 and 26 Senators, respectively. Think about it: We could elect 59 bandanna-wearing revolutionaries into the Senate with a mandate to clean house from top to bottom -- and as long as the Repubs maintain voting discipline they can just say "Um, no" and nothing will happen. Lesson for future leaders: all you need to control the entire American government is 1 President, 5 SC Justices and 26 Senators.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:27:07 -0800

Oh yeah, also, the irony of the repub position is overwhelming. U R NOT ALLOWD TO FILIBUZTER. ONLY WEE R ALLOWD 2 DO THAT.

By: quarter waters and a bag of chips

quarter waters and a bag of chips — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:54:02 -0800

lol republicans

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:07:34 -0800

I suppose complaining about this is whimsical at best after the last six years, but what's really so striking about this is how the Republicans are filibustering everything. This isn't an issue of "they don't agree with that legislation." They literally don't want Congress to do anything. The most extreme right-wing sites like RedState and FreeRepublic are, in fact, celebrating this "strategy." I don't understand how that's not a Democratic campaign ad already: the Republican Party- who we have elected and pay with our taxes- have made their sole agenda for the next two years- and longer if they don't take Congress back- to not do their job.

By: furtive

furtive — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:29:31 -0800

In other news, I never noticed the second "i" in filibuster until today.

By: teece

teece — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:33:45 -0800

I'm not in the least bit surprised at the complete hypocrisy of the Republican party — I fully expect it from them. They abandoned anything resembling a principle, ethic, or moral at least 10 years ago. What really surprises me, and saddens me, is how this amazing level of obstructionism gets essentially zero press coverage. Just a few months ago, a potential filibuster by Democrats was an "incredibly big deal" and evidence of the amazing nastiness of Democrats. Reporters had no problem going on and on about it, and parroting Republican talking points ad nauseam. And explaining how it would be peachy keen for Republicans to nuke 200 years of Senate tradition and remove the filibuster without any valid procedural grounds, with nary a mention of those details about Senate rules and tradition. Now, with a Republican filibuster every week, the only time you'll hear or read the word filibuster is when Diane Sawyer claims a Democratic attempt to block a Republican filibuster is — wait for it ... a Democratic filibuster (something she at least apologized for). You think the 180 degree about-face by Republicans, in the course of a few frickin' months, would be, you know, newsworthy? It's truly staggering how good Republicans are at media management, how bad Democrats are at it, and how astoundingly worthless American media has let itself become. They are managed better than fry cooks at McDonalds, and they don't seem to care. But bringing this stuff up means I'm a biased, evil liberal who hates Bush, God, American, and the Baby Jesus. Shut the fuck up, hippy.

By: BaxterG4

BaxterG4 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:45:41 -0800

Seriously, dudes. That just not cool.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:17:15 -0800

Think about it: We could elect 59 bandanna-wearing revolutionaries into the Senate Think about it: It'd take votes from more than 150 million people living in 29 different states over the course of 4 years in order to make this happen. Wake me up when the revolution starts, 'kay?

By: a robot made out of meat

a robot made out of meat — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:18:34 -0800

To be fair, I recall Republicans complaining that certain types of things, like judicial nominations, had not been filibustered, not that filibustering was unheard of. Also, Ozy and Millie really hit it today

By: Avenger

Avenger — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:05:11 -0800

Wake me up when the revolution starts, 'kay? Sadly, I think you'll be asleep for a long, long time.

By: Orange Pamplemousse

Orange Pamplemousse — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:12:34 -0800

teece, it doesn't sound like the Republicans are significantly better at managing the media (ex. spinning facts to their purposes, releasing bad news on Fridays, etc.). The media is just much more sympathetic to their 'side', to the extent that they're willing to spin the news themselves. That hints at systemic corruption and blatant disregard for impartiality and truth (provided of course that 'news' should be factual), so I'm probably wrong. Whew, no worries eh?

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:07:41 -0800

what filibusters? ... no one is filibustering ... they're voting down the cloture vote and then the senate leadership moves on to something else without actually making the republicans do any filibustering if they don't want to close off debate - fine ... let them keep debating it let them keep debating it until the american people get fucking sick of seeing them on cspan reading chicken recipes into the congressional record if the motherfuckers want to filibuster, MAKE them do the work and MAKE them pay the price for holding up the people's business in public, where everyone can see their obstructionism and don't put anything else on the floor until they're done debating leave it up to THEM whether anything gets done this year ... and tell the american people that all they had to do was to sit down and shut up and something could have been done yes, i'm referring, of course, to the war question ... put the timetable amendment on the floor again and LEAVE it there ... and if we end up debating for the rest of the year, that's on the republicans let it be the only thing on the agenda and don't add anything else ... and dare the republicans to shut congress down that's the REAL nuclear option ... lbj did it with the 1957 civil rights act you know ... back when liberals had balls

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:33:49 -0800

let them keep debating it until the american people get fucking sick of seeing them on cspan reading chicken recipes into the congressional record Yeah, like anyone actually watches CSPAN...not that I don't agree with you otherwise. Why there isn't a million man march on Washington already is hard to fathom, except that, I might lose my job and stuff, and that would suck.

By: Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America

Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:59:12 -0800

Democracy doesn't work. Nobody cares what Congress does, and any system premised on the incorrect assumption that people do care is fundamentally flawed.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:30:54 -0800

Cool Papa Bell: "[Elect 59 bandana-wearing revolutionaries?] Think about it: It'd take votes from more than 150 million people living in 29 different states over the course of 4 years in order to make this happen. Wake me up when the revolution starts, 'kay?" Well, there's a tangential point that has absolutely nothing to do with the thrust of Avenger's argument, eh?

By: DonJohnson

DonJohnson — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:12:24 -0800

Democrats = Republicans = Democrats

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:47:55 -0800

Obstruction is actually part of democracy. The system isn't supposed to be efficient. It is supposed to be checked and balanced and self correcting. The problem is that the Democratic party, being the masterminds they are, are getting the blame. It reminds me of the way Canadians will apologize if you step on their feet. As long as the Republicons can obstruct without getting the heat they will. The democratic party needs to learn how to do politics.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:31:54 -0800

Why there isn't a million man march on Washington already is hard to fathom, except that, I might lose my job and stuff, and that would suck. Have you considered that the risk of losing your job and stuff is less traumatizing than what's going to happen if the American citizens don't get their shit together wrt correcting the behaviours of their representatives?

By: teece

teece — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:00:21 -0800

Obstruction is actually part of democracy. Certainly so. Republicans have every right to filibuster. It's just amazing to me how a few months can pass, and what it means to exercise that right can change so fucking drastically. And supposedly rational people pretend nothing happened.

By: teece

teece — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:18:42 -0800

what filibusters? ... no one is filibustering Obstruction != filibuster. Under the terms Republicans defined, and the media went along with, any time something does not go to an up or down vote on the floor of the respective chamber, it's obstructionism, as bad as a filibuster, and beyond the pale. Under that definition, this Congress is on track to triple the highest level of obstruction ever seen before this point. Yet it was the previous, Democratic minority, that had the label "obstructionist" applied to it. Amazing, no?

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:59:13 -0800

Yet it was the previous, Democratic minority, that had the label "obstructionist" applied to it. Amazing, no? yes, it is ... and that's why the democrats need to follow the program i've outlined, so the republicans will actually HAVE to filibuster, and be SEEN shutting the government down call their bluff and MAKE them do it that is, of course, assuming that the democrats are truly serious about their goals and not just grandstanding

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:33:09 -0800

Sometimes it seems as if they exist only to provide a facadé by which to fool the public into thinking they've a representative government, when the reality is the reps are all just pigs at a trough looking out for number one.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:58:32 -0800

Sarcasm filter on FFF.