Discussion for article #229738
“On top of that, McConnell still has to contend with a 60-vote threshold for legislation if Democrats choose to exercise the filibuster.”
they fucking better.
of course, McConnell may do on day one what Reid would not – kill the filibuster altogether.
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Reid didn’t kill it because there was another filibuster in the form of a House majority. What would killing the filibuster in one chamber do when there is another chamber that wouldn’t take any Democratic legislation?
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I encourage the main-line Republicans to tactically vote Cruz as majority leader…then that shithead will be in the uncomfortable spot of having to actually do something and legislate, instead of just lobbing bombs from the sidelines.
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I continue to point this out: this is what happens when progressives don’t have Democrats’ backs when they need it the most. For all this story is hyped, the Republicans will still vote as a bloc against ANYTHING progressive for the country, and Obama goes out his final two years with another do-nothing Congress. We wasted six out of eight years of one of the most progressive presidents of the past few decades, and we won’t get another like him in office for a long time. Thanks progressives, for allowing giving Obama four years of a do-nothing accomplish nothing Congress! You really did an excellent job sticking it to Grimes, Pryor, Landrieu, and those other blue dog Dems for not being 100% liberal.
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I didn’t pass judgment one way or the other on Reid not killing the filibuster. I only noted that McConnell may do what Reid did not.
But since you bring it up, we spent 2008-2010 watching an unprecedented number of filibusters, and all anyone did was wring their hands and continue to try to “reach out.” McConnell doesn’t give two shits about reaching anything out to anything, other than reaching out his fist to the dems’ balls.
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that, too.
A majority of the country was tired of the gridlock, but that’s not what progressives championed. Instead of championing Dems being bipartisan as a strength, progressives jumped on it as a weakness, which helped depress turnout and kept enough non-voters from the polls to where the GOPs votes were that much more valuable.
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The question is will the GOP try and govern for real, or spend all their time pandering to conspiracy theorists, and low information voters. I fear the latter, and next two years will be an entire waste of time, and full of set backs.
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“Fairy Tale Election” from the GOP standpoint. Indeed, it feels like a dream. My suspicion is that the Republicans used all their Dark Money to buy Binary Magic Gas, which they then sprayed over the entire electorate.
This gas affects different groups differently. The white elderly tend to become disengaged from their sedentary existence, gripped with fear and willing to take on board such weird notions as “taking something back” from the black people and Mexicans who stole it or feel a sudden need to shoot stuff. In this agitated state, they become amenable to suggestions of getting down to the polls (which they did).
For the rest of us, the gas merely put us in a stupor. One-third of the voting-age population became completely discombobulated and did not realize there was even an election. Another third knew of the election, but were paralyzed by the vicissitudes of ordinary life and invisible couch magnets that prevented them from moving towards a polling place even if they tried. Finally, there were those that had ballots placed before them at the polling place but could not make heads or tales of arcane judgeship races and ballot initiatives, only the names of the main players that had been in the media.
The gas apparently is quite expensive, but it worked perfectly yesterday. Some say it might cause a throbbing headache and hangover that may last a couple years. The Manufacturer of the Gas, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, reports that FDA approval is pending (at least until there is no longer an FDA, EPA, or anything else besides NRA).
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What kind of legislation will Cruz/McConnell be able to get past the fresh crop of bloodthirsty Republican teabaggers in the House and Senate? It’s bound to be some crazy extremist excrement.
Voters don’t know what they just voted for. Yet. It’s the Democrats’ job to tell them.
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I guess it depends on which faction prevails in the impending internecine confrontation. If the establishment side wins then it’s possible they may actually try to govern. If the Tea Party/ Ted Cruz factions prevails then all bets are off and it is going to be one hell of a wild ride.
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hahaha… that’s so cute… no way in hell will the democrats be able to stymie republican legislation. hell, wanna bet that more than a few dems will provide the numbers that mcconnell needs when called upon.
or – more likely – kill it altogether.
how’s that comity working out, harry… what a stooge.
The Repubs are winning their War on Women .
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Voters do know what they voted for. They voted against Obama, no different than the wave election in 2006 when they voted against Bush.
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This.
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That slogan didn’t work this time around, so the Democrats need to find something new in 2016.
i don’t think American voters as a whole are plugged in enough to get the whole “bipartisan” thing. I think only a very small minority of voters frequent deep-in-the-weeds political sites like TPM. they only see what the nightly news and their spam folders tell them. And all they see and hear about is shit not getting done, shit failing in the senate. And who’s in charge of the senate, that they keep hearing about? democrats. ergo, democrats must be impotent.
I also think americans, in general, respond to cowboy-type tough talk and action and in-your-face bullshit. see, e.g., 8 years of bush jr. that is to say, America likes fighters, as a psychological generalization (my opinion). I don’t think there’s an overwhelming disposition in this country toward a guy who keeps reaching out his hand to pat someone on the shoulder and have a reasonable talk, only to be slapped away time after time and have his face spit in. keeping the generalization going, I think the vast majority of the voting population prefers a guy who bursts through the saloon doors, yells, “give me a goddam drink,” and punches the bartender in the mouth when he doesn’t pour fast enough. you and I may think that the more reasoned road is the better one, but I just don’t believe that that is the approach favored by the vast majority of americans.
just my opinion.
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Taking political advice from you is right up there with believing an environmental impact report from Koch Industries or Duke Energy.
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That’s the “majority” that always shows up in every election to vote GOP, yet the progressive base only shows up in Presidential election years. We need to show up and increase turnout in EVERY election cycle. From the 1930s through 1970s, turnout was 60% in Presidential elections and 50% for midterms, and Republicans lost for decades. We need to set our bar to increase turnout to what it was in those days.
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