26 December 2007

Who's the obstructionist again???

Think back if you will a couple or few years ago. There was a battle going on within the Senate over some of George W. Bush's judicial nominees. It seems that even though the Senate had confirmed a record number of judicial nominees for Bush since he took office in January of 2001, there were just a few more that he wanted in judgeships that were so out of what with mainstream America, the democrats in the Senate finally found what was left of their spine and put the smack down on the last handful of nominees. I think there were maybe between 5-10. This sent their republican comrades in the Senate into a tither. There was talk of a so called "nuclear option" which would change the rules of the Senate so that the republicans could basically ignore the filibuster that the democrats were throwing up, and force through Bush's nominees. The democrats were called obstructionists by the republicans, and Bush was yipping and yelling about this whole business as if the fate of the world depended on it. He was calling for the democrats to allow for an "up or down" vote on his nominees, which he knew would mean that they would be confirmed because the republicans still controlled the majority in the Senate. 

Anyway, with that little background information, take a look at this link here. Turns out, basically the same republicans that were yelling and screaming about the democrats being obstructionists have indeed become the masters of it themselves. Since they have filibustered the most legislation EVER in the history of the United States Congress, I think a round of applause is due to them, since now they have become the largest hypocrites (yet again) in the known Universe. The thing about it though, is not that they're using the filibuster. No, that is their right to do that in the Senate, that is how the minority party can control, and or how the minority party can have some influence on the proceedings. I'm not mad at them for that, or for how many times they use it. What really pisses me off, and takes the wind out of my sails is HOW this is portrayed, a majority of the time, within the media itself. Think back, democrats were obstructionists, and not doing the will of the people who had elected the President, and they were not confirming his nominees and were holding up some pieces of legislation. Look at the stories about Congress now, and stalled legislation. All of a sudden, it's not that the republicans are the all time leaders of obstructionism and use of the filibuster. Oh no. The stories read along the lines of how the democrats can't get anything done in Congress, and how the democrats are not doing what they promised when they took office and the majority back in 2006. Once again, the media are ignoring, and or are not reporting completely on WHY the democrats can't get anything done. That's what really makes me mad about this whole thing. It's not that republicans are hypocrites, we know that a lot of them are, and that is clearly shown a lot these days. And it's not that they're using this tool of the filibuster. It's how the media is reporting it that makes me really mad.

What Harry Reid should do, instead of just letting the republicans say, "You can't get cloture on this because you can't get 60 votes, so let's just drop it." What Harry Reid should do is actually make the republicans do a proper filibuster. Meaning long nights on the floor. Cots, long books, and things like that. I think if they actually made them do what they're supposed to do with a filibuster, then there is a good chance that they wouldn't do as many of them as they have been doing, and would show the people of the United States who is actually holding up what in Congress, and specifically the Senate. Of course, for some reason the democrats won't do this, and won't go running to the press talking about republican obstructionism like they should be, and for some reason, they just don't do it. I don't know why. If the shoe was still on the other foot, you can be sure that the republicans would be no holds barred, and would be blabbing about this all over the place. Harry Reid and the rest of the Senate democrats don't owe their republican friends in the Senate anything, they should toss them under the bus as soon as possible. 

The other thing that they need to do is when Bush threatens to veto something that they actually can get passed in the Senate and in the House, then they need to keep sending that same bill for him to sign, and make HIM the bad guy. Don't give in to that 20%-er. I mean, his ratings are so low, why do they keep giving into that guy? I don't get it. They send up a funding bill with timelines for troop withdrawal from Iraq, Bush complains that he wants a "clean" bill and won't sign anything with timelines attached to it, he vetoes, the democrats tuck tail, give him what he wants, and we're still in the same spot. If they kept sending him funding bills that he keeps vetoing, then it is going to be Bush's fault that the troops aren't funded properly, not the Congress'. My friends the democrats in the Senate and the House need to start being a little more hard core, and a little more venomous towards their counterparts, because again, it wasn't so long ago that republicans were accusing democrats of supporting terrorists, and "emboldening" terrorists, because they were speaking out against some of the things that Bush was doing. Take off the gloves girls and boys, and start punching. We're waiting for it, and we're tired of waiting for you to stand up to Bush.

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