Grand Obstructionist Party blocks its own bills
The story is familiar enough to be mind-numbing: Congress takes up an important policy issue; the House passes a popular bill, a majority of the Senate wants to pass the bill but Republicans won’t let the legislation come to the floor. The bill gets pulled, Congress’ approval ratings fall a little further, and everyone wonders how a measure that enjoys the support of a majority of the House, Senate, and electorate can’t reach the president’s desk. Rinse, repeat.
The NYT noted that Senate Republicans have become so reflexive in filibustering everything that moves that when Dems finally agreed to GOP demands on a bill to repair the alternative minimum tax last week, Republicans filibustered anyway — out of habit.
Kevin Drum responded with the right idea:
What bugs me about this is not the fact that the modern Republican Party doesn't really care about actual governance. This is hardly news. At this point, it's an exhausted organization so bereft of ideas that it really doesn't have much choice except to follow a policy of obstruction to its logical, nihilistic conclusion.
But why does the media have to play along? It's nice that the Times ran this story, but it would be nicer if the media simply reported what was happening on a regular basis.... If Republicans have adopted a strategy of simply blocking every piece of legislation that makes it to the floor of the Senate — and everyone agrees that they have — then we should be regularly seeing headlines that say "Republicans Block ______ "
And while we're at it, if Dems wanted to make Republicans actually filibuster, that might be helpful, too.
"But why does the media have to play along?"
Because their owned.
Wow! I wonder if we can condition them to sing "I'm a little teapot" whenever there's a roll call vote too!
All I have to say is go freaking nuclear and have them stop this agregious abuse of the system. They threatened to go nuclear when the Democratic minority BARELY used the fillibuster and now it's become habit for the GOP. I say, turn off the system and then turn it back on before the next election and get shit done!
It's now (all) about making the so-called Democratic controlled Congress look ineffective.
Their planning for the '08 election.
Their=they're (soory)
enor @ 4:
Uhhh, that goes for my post as well. Is it Friday yet??
I don't know what it is, but the Dems are being blackmailed because of something. Somebody had the goods on enough of them to make them cowtow to the Rethugs every time.Does anyone get this feeling? Or should I adjust my medication.
It's all part of the republican strategy - obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. Then blame the democratic lead congress for not being to get anything done.
That's the Repug party for you. Remember how they cried and threatened us with the Nuclear Option if Democrats attempted to filibuster any bill no matter what it was. Now this party that cannot play fair (or they would not have a party at all) is so gung ho about using the filibuster that they are crapping on their own plates now. It's why I say Republicans are unAmerican...if you vote for them you support an Anti-America agenda. And I have yet in all the times I have said that heard a single republican fuck-knuckle show me a single fact that proves me wrong. and the worst part is that these idiots think they support America more then I do because someone on the TEEVEE told them so.
Please any republican that is reading this...just find yourself a new country...American doesn't want you or need you anymore! You've not done a bit of good for this country in how many decades now? I mean can you name the last Republican president who wasn't a war criminal? Bush2, Bush1, Reagan, Nixon (Ford was an enabler, just about as bad and if Ford would have allowed us to hold hearings back then, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now, it's all the same criminals) I mean this party has wanted to worst for America for a long long time now. But that's OK Bill'O, Ann, Rush...it's OK, you can go on hating America because that's what real freedom is!
GOP, in blocking their own bills, show they're not serious about legislating, but wasting time and stalling. This article is curious: Member of Congress says a solution to this legislative log jamming is impeachment.
Keep up the filibusters, GOP: Making a great case for, "We do not have time for legislative action, so let's focus on impeachment." Let's give the Congress and GOP-DNC the needed leadership, and motivate them to focus with an impeachment investigation.
Spicegal @ 7:
That's exactly right. That's been the Republicans' strategy from the day they lost in Nov. '06.
They're whole goal is to ensure that this Congress doesn't get anything done. Not a thing. (Except maybe to keep funding Bush's wars.)
Then we can all think that even with a new Democratic Congress, nothing changes.
Of course, that last part is largely true. Our government is essentially broken. We need genuine, massive, electoral reform in this country.
Spicegal @ 7:
Congress isn't getting any legislative work done. What's the harm in starting an impeachment investigation?
Spicegal @ 7:
Dude! and not a single Democrat can get on the TV and say "it's the Republicans who are stopping everything from getting done"?
It's sad that a party who is scared of looking weak and soft are looking weak and soft because they are not conducting the investigations that they fear will make them look weak and soft.
It make my head hurt and my heart weep
GOP seems "successful" at blocking things. When is the DNC going to review "what didn't happen" to block the illegal Patriot Act, Habeas Destruction. It's all well and good to talk about GOP obstruction. It's another to understand why the DNC was unable/unwilling to do this 2001-2007 (now) to block illegal bills, and threats to the US Constitution.
- Why wasn't NSL funding shut down?
- Why was a "hold" put on FISA-violation funding?
- Why no "filibuster" of funding for illegal prisoner abuse at GTMO?
- Why not "shut down of funding" to wake up DoD, and force the DoD IG/CIA to review rendition?
It's one thing to blame the GOP in 2007 for blocks; quite another for the DNC to explain why they were unwilling to use their minority power to ensure funding for illegal activity was shut down, investigated, and prosecuted. The DNC could have used the threat of filibuster to shut down funding until they got answers to legal questions.
I wonder how 25 million American families are going to feel about the republicans beginning in January when they find out they are going to OWE the government $2000.00 more in April, rather than getting their long anticipated refunds????? This is an election year, but I will be damned if the republicans aren't doing everything they possibly can to turn this election into the election of 1932.
A mortgage crisis, a credit crisis, people being thrown out of their homes, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that only get worse and cost more, medical insurance going through the roof so that if people get a raise of 2% the increase of their benefits at 5% to 10% makes them end up making less than they did the year before and NOW on top of everything else, the republicans want the American people to pay Uncle Sam on average $2000.00 more this year!!!!!
These people are dangerously sick people. They move in such lockstep that they are stepping on their own dicks and don't even realize it. They are anihilating themselves at every turn. Sure polls show that "republican" respondents support them 75%, but polls also show that the number of people identifying themselves as republicans has dropped significantly!!!!
Are they deliberately trying to destroy themselves?
If they weren't such a bunch of fascist pricks, I guess I would admire the Republicans for their party loyalty. How is it not possible to peel away ten republicans for a troop withdrawl bill or a S-Chip bill?
DNC 2001-2006? @ 13:
The DNC -- as a majority party -- could do this now. What's the excuse for this non-sense, DNC?
Why isn't the DNC filibustering bills which the voters in 2006 said wanted addressed:
- Shut down of Iraq funding
- End to illegal FISA violations
- End to rendition, prisoner abuse
- Prosecution of war crimes: End it by shutting off funding for those who are violating the law
Power is separated to check, not so the Congress becomes a rubber stamp. DNC has the power of the majority -- in both houses -- to block any funding, but it largely refuses to assert its budget power. What is the DNC afraid of? GOP isn't afraid of blocking things. Why is the DNC afraid of asserting power to enforce the law against the President?
foolme1ns @ 14:
Yeah, wouldn't that be a damned shame. It's like watching mobsters shoot each other.
DNC 2001-2006? @ 13:
I think that's easy. We know that the GOP leadership threatened to go nuclear to DNC members many times behind closed doors before they finally threw their hissy fit about the fillibuster of judicial nominees. It was plain and simple bullying by the GOP that kept the DNC down (since they were in the minority, what else could they do if they lost their one voice?).
foolme1ns @ 14:
Do you mean the AMT tax or whatever it is called?
DNC 2001-2006? @ 13:
But, but, but...."we(Waxman/Leahy) sent out really strongly worded, stern letters
and they were ignored...then we tried the subpeona route, also ignored. What more
do you expect us to do?" How about IMPEACHMENT you bunch of whimps. Grow
a pair and do what 60 to 80 percent of the American public voted you into office to
do, and don't continue to play that game of "well, we tried, but THEY took our ball
and ran away"...Cry babies and pussies.
Impeachment @ 11:
Yeah, I thought impeachment was off the table so that we could pass bills that were a part of the democratic agenda. If we aren't passing bills it sounds like we've got some time on our hands.
The motto of the GOP is: "Rule or Ruin". And that rude truth is something that no congressional democrat- much less any of their presidential candidates- is willing to SHOUT out. Instead, we get this "We'll bring the country together in a spirit of bipartisanship" rubbish. Which, when you get down to brass tacks, is breathtakingly contemptuous of them all. Who do they think they're kidding?
Then obviously it's time to put the NUCLEAR OPTION back on the table, if, for no other reason, to draw attention to Republican obstructionism. After all, the nuclear option, to get rid of Senate filabustering, was a Republican invention when Frist was running the Senate. So, they can hardly make an issue of it when the Democrats threaten to use a trick on the Republicans that was INVENTED by Republicans.
They found time to vote about RELIGION and Christmas.
Faux News Opinion Poll, 12-13-2007
Please vote:
Could reducing non-Republican votes to 3/5ths of a vote actually provide for a truer democracy in America?:
A. Absolutely. Non-Republicans actually have on average 40% less patriotism than Republicans.
B. Without a doubt. And it is what the Founding Fathers intended.
C. I would raise it to 4/5ths of a vote if the non-Republican has actually killed someone in a war--even accidentally.
LongTooth @ 22:
Damn! That's good, LongTooth.
Just imagine if the roles were reversed...and the Dems were pissing on any and all bills.
My God, the "liberal" media would KILL them.
abarts @ 24:
Yeah, but remember what Mark Twain said:
" Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.
But I repeat myself."
Sooooo appropriate...
Another message to the Dem's, from Mark Twain:
"Why be afraid to go out on the limb? This is where the fruit is."
They are politicians and their priorty is to get reelected.
Their base is okay with blocking all dem bills.
The sooner people wake up and understand that the media is corporate and as such, the Republican Party represents its interests, the sooner bloggers, pundits, politicians and activists on the left can stop scratching their heads trying to figure out why the Corporate Media is so slanted against Democrats and the left. Just why anyone continues to ask why the media does what it does so consistently means that many on the left and in the Democratic Party are still in denial and will forever be blindsided by Corporate Media dirty tricks and propaganda.
we all know the repugs suck at governing...................but they are really good at making the dems look inadequate.Gotta fight fire with fire....it's the only thing they understand..and don't count on the media for any help...........
Oh puuuuullleaze. Whine whine whine. If the dems really wanted to do anything but whine, they'd make the thugs fillibuster every single piece of legislation they threaten to fillibuster. What whiny little wimpoids. When the dems were in the minority, I can count the number of times they actually fillibustered. And remember that? When the dems even breathed the word fillibuster, they were assailed for being obstructionists and "all we want is an up or down vote!" But truth be known, most measures passed WITH DEM help. Like the war resolution and like the EGREGIOUS measures changing bankruptcy laws!
Now the thugs are in the minority and they have a "permanent fillibuster" policy. They just announce that the dems will ALWAYS need 60 votes to pass anything. That's an ABUSE of the fillibuster. Fillibuster means that you actually FILLIBUSTER. Wimpy wimpy dems who refuse to MAKE the repugs actually do it. Of coooooouuuurse the dems fall for it and let them get away with it. What little wiimpy spineless fuck ups. No wonder people vote republican.
Make me sick.
it's time to just bulldose the entire legislative branch of the govt. take bulldoser and raise the building with everyone in it. they are ALL useless crap. fuck them all.
Pericles @ 23:
agreed......thank you for pointing this out..
getalife @ 30:
All the more reason for comprehensive electoral reform. We need to build in different incentives for politicians to act.
Hype-Jersey @ 33:
Rep Robert Wexler(D Fla) has the right idea.......start impeachment proceedings.........against Cheney.That'll make their buttholes pucker!
Could not get the link at the end to work- http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13898.html what did it have to say?
Karen @ 36:
Hell, shut down lobbyists and K Street and the fossils will retire in droves.
The idea by our forefathers was for them to serve, then go back to their jobs, mostly farmers.
Career politicians was not what they had in mind and term limits will help. It is working in Louisiana along with strict ethics rules.
getalife @ 40:
Personally, I am against term limits, and I don't much worry about what the founders intended. (We have term limits in California as well, and it's a disaster.) Lobbying reform would be excellent.
What I do want is comprehensive reform of the mechanisms by which we elect our representatives. The means by which we the people transfer our sovereign power to the people who will vote on our behalf.
Karen @ 41:
Why are term limits a disaster in Cali.?
getalife @ 42:
The worst part of it has been the shifting of policy discussions into the back rooms. You can serve three two-year terms in the CA Assembly. Then you have to move onto something else, or go home. Six years after the term limits' implementation, the people who really understood parliamentary procedure were the professional political operatives, not the representatives themselves. We ended up with a behind-the-scenes crowd of people doing a lot of the political dealing, from whom the politicians would take most of their advice. This problem was always there, but now, the representatives actually start to kick back and not worry about what they would like to get done or what their constituencies want. They aren't even allowed to worry about getting re-elected for a long career. We have no long-term representatives who know the ropes, and who can really lead a party caucus. It's a very odd situation.
After a couple years, many legislators just kick back and do nothing. They have the job and the money for as long as it lasts, and they know there's really no reason to keep pushing. They can't worry about being re-elected.
The ones who do want to make a career out of politics haven't been stopped, however. (And frankly, in principle, I don't see why they should be. Many are noble people who genuinely want to do good in the world, and sometimes we lose them to term limits as well.) The ones who want to make a cynical career of getting elected over and over simply move onto another branch of government when their term expires. They do their six years in the Assembly, move onto their eight in the Senate, and then run for one of the executive offices.
Ultimately, term limits haven't helped anything, but they have made part of the process worse. At least here in CA, where the government is the same kind of large, 24/7 operation the federal government is.
Expecting Republicans to manage government is like asking vegetarians to manage sausage factories. It doesn't work because they don't get it.
As far as the media...PNAAC Minister in #1 got it right....the media is owned. And it's just because of that there's little reason to hope.
I heard on NPR yesterday that the Republicans have fillibustered a RECORD number of bills this session of Congress. I'd like to see headlines and a story about that -- it would be easy to write up; all of the information is readily available.
Karen @ 43:
Very interesting and thank you for the reply.
I knew there would be a downside but the corruption was so bad in Louisiana, they had to do something.
getalife @ 46:
Your welcome. And, yeah, I understand. And hey, if it helps, I certainly don't begrudge it.
I do think, though, that we should revamp our whole electoral process. There are some very basic changes that could do a world of good for the mess we're in, and for non-responsive folks like the Dems currently in charge of the Congress.
decotodd @ 45:
I wasn't aware that the repugs have actuallyfillibustered any bills.
to the best of my knowledge...it's been threats of a fillibuster......nothing more.I could be wrong about this....
Jo @ 19:
Yes. Since that was what the topic was, I left off the name, and went right into rant. Sorry.
Karen @ 47:
Yes, Senator Shumer insists that the more Republicans block Democrats in Congress, the more seats Democrats will win next year.
That is their strategy.
getalife @ 50:
And they'd like Bush's war to continue so that they can run against that as well.
The.GOP.is.so.clueless.now.they.wouldn't.even.know.how.to.s*rv*ce.themselves.if.that.were.physically.possible.
mudshark @ 35:
http://orig.clarionledger.com/news/0305/23/m05.html scroll down abit.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/03/15/gop_see... ... 2 pages... http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200411/ai_n9470603/pg_1 3pages.....3 repugs who were for the Nuclear Option....fight fire with fire........
You suck Harry Reid!! Why are you driving this issue "home" like the Republicans do? You're ineffective. Vote him out!! It's time to start with new Democrats. Vote in all new Democrats. This blogingg does nothing...hello!!!!
As a Democrat, I feel abused by this whole system.
Whether we're in the minority or the majority, it makes no difference. We have absolutely no power, and the 'leaders' of our party have absolutely no idea how to work the system. The GOP is one step ahead of the Democrats with everything they do!
When Democrats were in the minority, Republicans abused them; treated them like puppets on a string. Then 2006 comes around and Dems are back in the majority; but nothing changes? We can't get anything done; we're no closer to being out of Iraq; we give Bush everything he wants; we take impeachment off the table;...........nothing; absolutely nothing. The Dems still dream of bipartisanship; working togehter; bascially taking the high road and playing nice. All the while, Republicans are manipulating them to look like the bumbling idiots they are; and somehow managing to paint a picture to the public that Democrats are responsible for the mess we're in! It's unbelievable.
At this point, I am convinced that the Democrats will find a way to blow the 2008 election. Whoever the Democratic candidate is, the GOP machine and the right wing media will manage to Swiftboat them and pin the blame on them for everything that Bush has screwed up. They will position themselves as the party of change, and win in a landslide.........I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Think about it...........they managed to get a retarded candidate elected president.......TWICE.
no more halfass filibusters. Make the mouth-breathers talk all night long on C-Span
Isn't it up to the Democrats in Congress to point out what their Republican counterparts are doing? If so, the Democrats are doing an abysmal job of it.
repiglicans are not human beings .... they are rancid secretions out of the asshole of lucifer himself ..........
Grand Obstructionist Party blocks its own bills
bill o'really?
The kidney stone in the Nations Urethra?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0cCD8lLsTo
I am sooooooo damn sick of this partisan wrangling... Nothing good every seems to get done... There are many of us who lambaste the dems for not being able to push their agenda... I'm among them... But I'm also going to give them the benefit of the doubt and whenever and wherever possible I'm vote dem to give them the super-majority they apparently need to get about the business of providing for middle-class americans.
The Republican filibuster is not about objection to the bills but about punishing America for taking them from the majority, a temper tantrum.
Tell me how this is not malfeasance and not treason?
if Jesus were here he would take McConnell by the shoulders and shake the shit out of him - there might be nothing left
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