Man, I didn't realize you were all that weak

[Coda]

So there was a compromise tonight. They averted the nuclear option by reaching agreement to stop the fillabuster and finally vote and confirm 3 judge nominations.

Can someone tell me where the Republicans compromised?


We're just warming up for the big '3' Supreme nominations. I'm chomping at the bit I tell ya.

[GoodSpeak]

Let the record show the Democrats tried to get along and make it work.








I patiently await the obigatory republican back stabbing to begin.....

[RedJazz]

Originally Posted by Coda

So there was a compromise tonight. They averted the nuclear option by reaching agreement to stop the fillabuster and finally vote and confirm 3 judge nominations.

Can someone tell me where the Republicans compromised?


We're just warming up for the big '3' Supreme nominations. I'm chomping at the bit I tell ya.

So much for a Democrati "opposition" party. About time we all wised up and realized that there is no opposition party in the US, at least not a meaningful parliamentary opposition. Decades ago historian Eugene Genovese characterized the United States of America as "the most flexible of totalitarianisms."

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by RedJazz

So much for a Democrati "opposition" party. About time we all wised up and realized that there is no opposition party in the US, at least not a meaningful parliamentary opposition. Decades ago historian Eugene Genovese characterized the United States of America as "the most flexible of totalitarianisms."

Uh, huh.


Like Communist and Socialist governments are so damn flexible.


Please.





Gimme a break here, huh?

[Gary Sisco]

Chomp what you want, chimp.

The repuborrhoid lock on Congress will be history after next year's election.

Not that I give a fuck about demorrhoids or any hoids, but I am totally opposed to one-party rule, any party. If I had a party -- I don't and won't -- I'd vote against it to break a one-party rule situation.

See the thing is this: The peops don't give a fuck about the filibuster. Most of them couldn't tell you what it is or even why it is. It's another of those issues that shows, again, that if something is being yacked about continually in the American mass media, it's likely irrelevant or entirely meaningless.

What the peops *do* care about is social security. It's the third rail of American politics, I mean, statecraft. Fuck with it and you're done. You can *talk about* fucking with it. But fucking with it is another thing entirely.

[tristano's ghost]

Dobson's throwing a fit about the compromise. A fair number of liberals not too happy about the deal, but the radical-right is even madder. They want absolute, uncontested power, and nothing less. What happened last night strikes me as a stopgap; this fight will happen again (wtf will "extraordinary circumstances" be? If the so-called GOP moderates are prepared to give a "yea" vote to the likes of the three that get a pass, then what in hell does it take to become an "extraordinary" nominee? )

BTW, Coda, "champing" is the word that you're looking for. On second thought, though, "chomping" does strike a more appropriate tone.

[Gary Sisco]

They forget, as Americans always do, that the shoe will one day be on another foot and they will want to filibuster, themselves.

Apparently there are a handful there who understand that part.

There is always a flip side.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Gary's right. The only folks who were truly excited by this fight were the inside the beltway types and the far right/far left advocacy groups.

It may turn out to be a good strategy on the Dems part. They can appear to be willing to try to be bipartisan, and it gives them a free hand when Bush tries to shove another Scalia or Thomas down their throats.

[tristano's ghost]

Dobson's quote:

"This Senate agreement
represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a
great victory for united Democrats...The rules that blocked conservative
nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed."

Either the 14 senators pulled the rug out from under Frist, or the GOP was coming up a hair short on the vote count.

[lynn]

I say let the Repubs have all the rope they want. This worm will ultimately turn and all those pushy republican extremists will be eating the fruit of their own tree, something John McCain has been warning them about in an oh so subtle way. I don't think the feast is too far off either.

[Coda]

I'm not understanding your logic Trist. Are you suggesting that Frist had inside info that the democrats didn't have? I would think in that small circle of folks it's awful hard to keep a secret.

If the democrats knew that the republicans didn't have enough votes to break the impass, then why not wait one more day?

Who is Dobson? James Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family?

John McCain is positioning himself for another run at the presidency, smack dab in the middle, cheek to cheek with Hillary Clinton.

[Chris D]

Coda, a lot of the right-leaning bloggers disagree with your assessment:

Captain's Quarters complained, "This, in short, has been a clear victory for the Democrats and a massive failure for the GOP and the White House. The GOP just endorsed the filibuster, and will have no intellectual capacity to argue against its use later on."

The Buzz Blog mocked the negotiating skills of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: "The Senate Leadership and President Bush have been sold down the river by these seven Republicans. This so called "deal" was a retreat from earlier claims that Democrats were willing to approve five of the seven filibustered nominees. Talk about bad negotiating tactics -- McCain and company actually lost ground when the GOP held all the cards. This is a sad day for the Republic."

Powerline called the compromise a fiasco for the GOP: "What a hideous deal! Someone explain to me why the Republicans haven't been rolled once again. To me, it looks like a pathetic collapse on the part of the Republicans--not the leadership, but Senators like McCain who sold out their party."

And Michelle Malkin complained, "The GOP parade of pusillanimity marches on. With this pathetic cave-in, the Republicans have sealed their fate as a Majority in Name Only."

But not all conservatives would blame moderates who reached a deal. At Redstate.org, Josh Trevino wrote that the whole controversy was a Republican black eye: "Historians will look back with no small amount of wonder at this bizarre episode, wherein a majority seized with a maximalist vision of its own power and mission, and facilitated by the personal ambitions of one man, decided to sweep away the institutional checks upon which it itself so recently relied to stymie its opposition's plans."

My father thinks McCain is a communist.

[crawjo]

So in other words, there are still seven or so sane Republicans left in the Senate.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by crawjo

So in other words, there are still seven or so sane Republicans left in the Senate.

We can only hope.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Chomp what you want, chimp.

The repuborrhoid lock on Congress will be history after next year's election.

Not that I give a fuck about demorrhoids or any hoids, but I am totally opposed to one-party rule, any party. If I had a party -- I don't and won't -- I'd vote against it to break a one-party rule situation.

That's all well and good, Gary....but why do you refer to any party you don't support as some sort of hemorrhoid? What the hell is that?


Like the political affiliation you support is so damn special? How'd that happen?

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

See the thing is this: The peops don't give a fuck about the filibuster. Most of them couldn't tell you what it is or even why it is. It's another of those issues that shows, again, that if something is being yacked about continually in the American mass media, it's likely irrelevant or entirely meaningless.

Who says we don't care about the fillibuster....you?

It is entirely relevant and it is what gave us many of our rights.....ALL of us, Gary.

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

What the peops *do* care about is social security. It's the third rail of American politics, I mean, statecraft. Fuck with it and you're done. You can *talk about* fucking with it. But fucking with it is another thing entirely.

True enough.


But we "peops" also care about giving tax breaks [two, at last count] to the rich while taxing the shit out of the [ever shrinking] Middleclass. I'm thinkin' we "peops" care about the ever growing deficit, gas prices and the lack of affordable health care, too.


My advice?


Take a stand, Gary, huh?



Being a part of a fringe political belief/party only allows you the pseudo right to run off at the mouth. That and 50 cents gets you the local newspaper.




It takes absolutely no talent to complain about the current political power if you aren't willing to participate beyond the occasional bitch session. OK?





I am very sorry to have to be the one to tell you this.


I really am.

[clinthopson]

So the Dems had a "victory." They have the filibuster as long as they don't use it.

What pussies!

I say go nuclear just like the Repubs did during Newt's (thankfully short) reign.

Originally Posted by Brother Goodz

Take a stand, Gary, huh?



Being a part of a fringe political belief/party only allows you the pseudo right to run off at the mouth. That and 50 cents gets you the local newspaper.




It takes absolutely no talent to complain about the current political power if you aren't willing to participate beyond the occasional bitch session. OK?

Hahahahahaha....................

Oh my!!

This should be lots-o-fun!

[frankiepop]

democrats got a victory here. the democrats virtually had no case against owens and brown who seem to have just about impeccable credentials. the democrats successfully diverted the debate away from the nominees and focused upon the process. my analysis is that frist ended up with a bloody nose.

[Gary Sisco]

If anyone cares to deal with facts, which I know have next to zero place in American alleged debate, but what the hell, the historical record of judge appointments and approvals show no significant changes in numbers under Carter, Reagan (both terms), Bush, Clinton (both terms), or Bush (both terms, thus far).

The move against the filibuster had nothing whatsoever to do with judges and everything to do with a party that is authoritarian to the core to begin with but has since, on top, achieved one-party-rule status, taking their authoritarianism into a different realm that is now bordering on the totalitarian. They don't want to have to deal with opposition as such, not just about judges but about anything.

That is the real, and the only, political point.

And therefore, the one that isn't debated in the US.

[frankiepop]

taking their authoritarianism into a different realm that is now bordering on the totalitarian.

and gary grabs at a bit of hyperbole once again.

Again?

That's implying it had stopped at one time.

[frankiepop]

no it doesnt

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Hahahahahaha....................

Oh my!!

This should be lots-o-fun!

Hm.

We shall see.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

If anyone cares to deal with facts, which I know have next to zero place in American alleged debate, but what the hell, the historical record of judge appointments and approvals show no significant changes in numbers under Carter, Reagan (both terms), Bush, Clinton (both terms), or Bush (both terms, thus far).

The move against the filibuster had nothing whatsoever to do with judges and everything to do with a party that is authoritarian to the core to begin with but has since, on top, achieved one-party-rule status, taking their authoritarianism into a different realm that is now bordering on the totalitarian. They don't want to have to deal with opposition as such, not just about judges but about anything.

That is the real, and the only, political point.

And therefore, the one that isn't debated in the US.

C'mon, Gary....you've got more on the ball then that. I mean, you're a smart guy. What is it you offer in its place?


Cynicism?

Libertarianism?










Anarchy?



It takes absolutely no talent to put down the other guy.


I honestly think this could be a fruitful debate, but there needs to be more than just complaint.

Oh my...........

[sonic1]

I personally am all FOR the republican takeover. It will prove once and for all that with or without democrats yal' can fuck up the country.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by sonic1

I personally am all FOR the republican takeover. It will prove once and for all that with or without democrats yal' can fuck up the country.

Good point.

[clinthopson]

Originally Posted by sonic1

I personally am all FOR the republican takeover. It will prove once and for all that with or without democrats yal' can fuck up the country.

I think they've already accomplished most of the fucking up.

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by frankiepop

the democrats virtually had no case against owens and brown who seem to have just about impeccable credentials.

Drinking the Kool-Aid is one thing. But saying "virtually no case" against these two is going off the deep end.

Priscilla Owen declined to take herself off cases when contributors to her political campaigns were before her. She is so off the rails on abortion rights that even Alberto Gonzales complained about her rulings while they were both on the Texas State Supreme Court bench. She has consistently and famously ruled in favor of business and against consumers. She is "well-qualified" in that she was a top law student, a successful litigator, and has served on a state Supreme Court. And regardless of anyone's feelings about abortions, her ethical record is not good. By all means, let her nomination be put to a vote. She should be voted down.

Janice Rogers Brown, sitting on the conservative California bench, has been a minority of one on many, many votes. She has been openly criticized by her conservative colleagues for misrepresenting state and federal rulings. Earlier in her career, she was twice given "not qualified" ratings for advancement in the California Courts. Let's put her to a vote, too.

I find it insulting as an American citizen that the Bush Administration would put these two up for confirmation. I have a feeling a sufficient number of members of Congress are also insulted. Put them to the vote.