Game on!
Patterico:
For you ADHD readers who couldn’t be bothered to read to the end of last night’s post, I argued that Republicans should be overjoyed that Harry Reid has abolished the filibuster for judicial nominees.
As I have always (consistently!) argued: an up-or-down vote is what judicial nominees deserve under the Constitution. But for those who don’t care about principle, here is the argument for why eliminating the filibuster of judicial nominees is a winner: you can’t tie your own hands when you are in power, on the hope that Democrats will feel constrained to tie their own hands when they are in power. We just saw the folly of that mode of thinking, and I hope the lesson is sinking in, because it goes deeper than this filibuster. They’ll take it away from us in a Supreme Court nomination fight if they feel like it. They’ll steamroll us on simple legislation if they feel like it.
If they can do it, they will do it. It’s liberating to know, deep in our bones, that principle will never constrain them when countervailing pressures get strong. It will keep us from acting weakly (again) when we are in power. And we will be — maybe not tomorrow, but one day.
The Wall Street Journal comes along to echo my thoughts in a very well stated piece that I will quote at length, because it’s chock full of good phrases you will want to use again and again:
The move shows how foolish Republicans like John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Orrin Hatch were to worry that if they broke the filibuster, Democrats would then do it too. Democrats did it anyway. The only way to deter bloody-minded Democratic behavior is to treat Democrats as they treat Republicans. Democrats sicced special prosecutors on GOP Presidents for years, but they gave up the independent-counsel statute only after Ken Starr investigated Bill Clinton.
The immediate result of Harry Reid’s power play will be that President Obama has a freer hand to pursue his agenda through regulation and the courts. . . .
. . . .
The silver lining is that the end of the nominee filibuster will work for conservatives too. The next time they hold the Senate and White House, Republicans should employ the same weapon. Democrats are pretending that they are only breaking the filibuster for lower-court nominees, not for the Supreme Court. They can dream on.
Hannity Attacks Filibuster Reform He Supported Under GOP
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/hannity-attacks-filibuster-reform-he
@This one: Are your really this stupid?? Remember what O-blama, Hillary, and Reid had to say about this option when Bush’s nominations where being treated even worse?? Didn’t think so!!
is that their way to end the pressure, it won’t work,
except to make the people even more against that party, which wil pay as a whole for what HARRY REID has done to help advance the sosialist agenda to take the lead on the real AMERICAN SPIRIT,
AGAIN THIS IS INFLUENCE BY FOREIGN INPUT AT THE WHITE HOUSE,
WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN EVEN THOUGHT OF IN THIS AMERICA,WHICH IS A REPUBLIC
NO MATTER HOW THEY TRY TO DEMOLISH IT,
THEY WILL NEVER PREVAIL,
I full expect that the Democrats will also do away with the filibuster on legislation, as it may be needed to further their Statist agenda during the rest of Obama’s lame duck years. (Assuming they can get enough RINOs in the House to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory.)
“The silver lining is that the end of the nominee filibuster will work for conservatives too. The next time they hold the Senate and White House, Republicans should employ the same weapon. ”
They should, but they won’t. When Republicans regain power, they will reinstate the filibuster to show that they are “morally superior” and willing to “reach across the aisle” and other cute phrases.
Our younger generation of voters can not possibly mature quickly enough to prevent the destruction of our nation.
FILIBUSTER IS DONE ON A RESERVED PEACEFULL WAY OF PROTESTING THE OBAMA DECISIONS WHO ALWAYS ARE FAILING THE CITIZENS INTEREST,
HARRY REID TOOK IT OUT TO FAVOR HIS MASTER,
BUT WITHOUT NO FILIBUSTER IT COULD MAKE PLACE WITH A STRONGER ACTION ON THE RECIPIENTS,
WISHING
THE FILIBUSTER BACK IN PLACE,
HARRY REID FORGET THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH OF HIS TACTICS,
AND CAN GIVE HIM A MESSAGE HE CANNOT FORGET,
AFTER HAVING EXASPERATE THE PEOPLE TO THEIR LIMIT OF TOLERANCE,,
the big mistake which DEMOCRATES HAVE MADE IS HAVING THIS OBAMACARE VOTED
ONLY BY DEMOCRATES , IN THE LATE DARK DAY, NO REPUBLICANS WHATSOEVER, TO READ IT AND PROBE IT, THE REPUBLICANS ARE VERY SMART TO DETECT FLAWS AND QUICLYER THAN THE DEMOCRATS, YOU SEE THEM NOW DANCING ON KNIVES AND EVADING THE PRESENCE OF OBAMA,
NOT SHOWN TO BE PART OF HIS OBAMACARE, BUT WE KNOW THEY SIGN FOR IT BLINDLY AS THE OTHER, SO THE TRUST IS GONE FOR WHATEVER THEY SAY ON PUBLIC STANDS,