The Filibuster Is Forever! Not!

Hey, Rand, under the new rules we get to talk as long as we want. What's not to like?

Dana Milbank, on and off idiot, picks idiot today:

Reid was right that Republican obstruction has been intolerable; half of the 168 filibusters of executive and judicial nominations in the nation’s history, he noted, have come during the Obama presidency.

But Reid’s remedy — calling a simple- majority vote to undo more than two centuries of custom — has created a situation in which the minority leader, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), is expected to use the minority’s remaining powers to gum up the works, and to get revenge when Republicans regain the majority.

“If a Senate majority demonstrates it can make such a change once, there are no rules which binds a majority, and all future majorities will feel free to exercise the same power, not just on judges and executive appointments but on legislation,” Levin said Thursday. Quoting one of the Senate’s giants, Arthur Vandenberg, Levin said his fellow Democrats had sacrificed “vital principle for the sake of momentary convenience.”

If it was possible to make things even worse in Washington, Reid just did it. [emphasis mine.]

The modern filibuster, as practiced until last Thursday, did not have a two-hundred-year run. It was instituted in 1917. It was very, very rarely used until the past few presidencies, gathering speed during the Bush years and exploding during Obama's time, until the Republicans blew it up.

Milbanks says, "...the minority leader, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), is expected to use the minority’s remaining powers to gum up the works." What was he doing before?

Reid didn't end the filibuster. The Republicans did by giving Reid no other recourse but to lead.

Now the Obama administration can do its work. And that's, uh, "making things worse in Washington?" No. It'll return Washington to the days when an administration was allowed to fulfill its mandate, you know, before Newt Gingrich's 1994 temper tantrum.

By the way, I think the original filibuster -- talking until you drop or win -- is still in place. So, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, you time is at hand. Bring it on! (Holy crap, they will.)

And that elder statesman, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, what's his reaction to the Dems' eliminating a portion of the filibuster, only for administration and judicial appointments sans the Supreme Court? Why, threaten to end them for the Supreme Court appointments, as well! I thought you liked the filibuster, guess I was wrong.

Real mature, Grassley.You end some filibusters, we'll end even more, so there!

Maybe Mr. Smith is coming back to Washington. And that's a good thing.

Senator Charles Grassley: We promise to be worse than you, nasty Dems!