Since when did the meaning of 'nuclear option' change to include standard Senate procedure?
By David Neiwert Friday Aug 21, 2009 11:45am
On three separate Fox News programs yesterday -- on Neil Cavuto's show, on Sean Hannity, and on Greta Van Susteren -- the hosts specifically referred to the Democrats' decision to go through "reconciliation" sessions to settle on the final form of the health-care legislation as "the nuclear option."
Eh?
Now just a gol-darned minute. The "nuclear option" always referred to the possibility of permanently changing Senate rules regarding filibusters so that the minority could not use it so readily to frustrate majority-approved legislation -- and it was an invention of Republicans who were considering bringing it against Democrats.
No such steps are being considered here.
Instead, we're seeing the health-care legislation go through the "reconciliation" process, which assures that it will only need 51 votes to pass. This is a long-established Senate procedure, and was indeed used frequently by Republicans when they controlled the Senate from 2001-2006.
Media Matters has the complete rundown.
Republicans repeatedly used reconciliation to pass former President Bush's agenda. Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to pass Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts as well as the 2005 "Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act." The Senate also used the procedure to pass a bill containing a provision that would permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (The final version of that bill signed by Bush did not contain the provision on drilling.)
These people never quit when it comes to twisting reality for their agenda, do they?
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Just around the corner from the land of MakeShitUp.
Faux News, fair and balanced my ass
It's a bubble universe, and the people inside are trapped. They are yelling and screaming and pounding on the bubble wall. Their voices are fading as the bubble walls get thicker and thicker. Soon they will fade away from view and be lost forever into a parallel universe.
Obama , Emanuel , Blue dogs are playing a bait and switch game with health care.
Obama , Emanuel and the blue dogs have never been serious about any type of public option in the health reform FOR THE VERY BEGINNING...
All the facts are now coming out and Obama and his blue dog friends are full of it..
Make no mistake about it ,,, the republicans (Blue Dogs - Emanuel & Obama) have move our policies to the right of the center and if it keeps moving we will be on even ground with the right wing party..
This health bill is not sh.. without a public option in it and for anyone to believe other wise , do not know how this health reform bill is being developed..
We do not have the balls of other nations to fight for our rights and our government corporate officials know they can get away with their phony line of BS.
I can not get over how we could see thru Bush's BS and not these republicans calling themselves democrats..
I say highly contagious hemorrhagic fever that kills all in it's deadly path....
would be to take all Fox propaganda hosts to a deserted island and drop a 500 megaton bomb on them. They are encouraged to take their rightwing guests.
ubiquitous dick-thing posturing by people with variously processed hair.
For fox viewers this means that Obama is going to nuke the red states. Who the hell cares what it really means when you can just make shit up and it will scare somebody.
Nuclear Option is a very slick nomenclature and a not so subtle reminder of who's really in control.
What are the odds they'll start saying that the White House is pointing a Death Ray at the Republican Party?
Or that they're considering an Orbital Bombardment of Congressional procedure?
Or that they're going to release a Flesh-Eating Disease into the media?
the congresscritters MANY times asking just WHY are the Republicans allowed to change the rules! Even now. Let's see, we are supposed to have a Democratic majority.
House
Senate
White House
But yet, as Rachel Maddow pointed out so well on last night's show, the Repubs are STILL changing the voting rules. Now Grassley is saying they (Democrats) need 70 - 80 votes.
Hellllllllloooooooooooooooooooo.........And we hear N O T H I N G from the Democrats.
Why even dignify that foolishness with a response? Anyone who believes that shit will not listen to reason anyway.
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The Repuglic*nts know this issue amounts to life and death. Not for "grandma, but for them. If the Dems grow some and get the public option reform passed by any means possible, the public will grow to love it (see SS and Medicare), and the public will remember who was against it( at least for five years or so, then they will forget). So the Rs are going to fight like cornered badgers on this. Fuck em.
I think part of it is the Dems don't adhere to the philosophy of testicles being the one and only source of their "power".
Funny how so many guys use the term testicles to denote power. Women don't always see it that way.
their spine goes all the way down to their testicles. Others don't. It should be, "grow some more spine."
http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/05...
woman come from testosterone? Seriously?
oh, yeah. Corporate money.
The repubs know if this passes the way the President wants, it's going to be a success and a moment in US history. They don't want to go on record as someone who voted against something that big. So the only thing they can do is try to change it to something that would be a failure and then vote against it.
I think they decided to vote against ANY of Obama's ideas. If they drop the public option and go for co-ops the Rs will be against that. If they just try and do the minimum of just tightening up the insurance industry the Rs will vote against that. There is no sense in debating with them or even inviting them into the conversation. Am I missing something?
If you are missing something, so am I. Last Monday when the buzz was that some in the Obama administration were saying the public option was not necessary, people on fox were already criticizing co-ops.
Rush sent out the word at the very beginning that he wanted Obama to fail and the republicans are obeying his orders, no matter what is best for them or their country.
of the health insurance industry. It's the Lucy and the football thing, as I heard someone on TV describe it. Rachel, it was. Moving the goal posts. Raising the basket. Going to a knife fight with a bazooka. Outsmarting them. You get the drift, right? But at least the Dems have manners. Always useful in a life and death fight.
"These people never quit when it comes to twisting reality for their agenda, do they?"
---
The adult equivalent of plugging their ears and screaming "La la la la!"
Shouldn't it be...Teh Nukular Option?
that it is spelled with a C, not a K. Nucular.
How daaaaaaaare you engage in your own semantic whimsy right in the middle of mine?!?! };p>
to edjukate you.
It's spelt edjamakation!
Take THAT Mr. Fancy Pants!
ya got me. LOL!
But seriously, it's nukular....
..Moe, Larry, the cheese!
..Moe, Larry, the cheese!
..Moe, Larry, the cheese!
I shude've memberd dat frum hi skule inglishe.
too damn funny.
Have a good weekend everyone!
I am goin to crawl into a 12 pack o PBR with some friends and veg on some shoot em up games tonight.
PEACE!
NO surprise here.....hypocrites in action. the right/fox will confuse and/or suggest to their followers that the BUSH administration didn't use reconciliation. if it's shown/discussed that they did use reconciliation it will be said well the dems are using the "nuclear option" which is different. the Republicans are having a difficult time with the BUSH legacy. revealing the truth about the BUSH administration/(r) congress is very powerful because it's the truth. the (r) are trying to run from the truth. just like when obama recently brought up the (r) shoving Medicare D down our throats. the people that supported Medicare D legislation that wasn't paid for are the same people telling us NO about a "public option" health care cost reform. if president obama doesn't put his foot down very soon he will lose many of us.
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Well they've tried to redefine liberalism and fascism...
.
Was how the GOP passed the Bush tax cuts for millionaires.
Fair is fair -
Wealthcare for billionaires! (the other side wasn't worried then)
Obama: "America must have health insurance reform now!!"
Republicans: "NO!"
Obama: "Ok, sorry"
You didn't hear Obama's whole answer. He said, "Ok, sorry you SOBs but it's gonna happen.
health insurance industry stood behind him and smiled for the cameras??
I am totally amazed at the influence lobbyists from every sector are showing they have in Washington. Everything they've wanted has been getting done, both from Bush and now Obama. Scary shit. The difference is that the Rethugs look at Americans and give ya'all the finger. Dems talk huge, but deliver small. Tis truly sad.
As I just surfed by Kos I found this gem:
"Earlier this week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) was asked by Charleston’s Post and Courier whether “people have a right to health care?”
“I think health care is a privilege,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a right.”
And to think, these people that are spewing all this crapola in the media, are elected, some for years!!!
. . .
... I was outraged, then I saw (R) and immediately understood.
After all, why give health care to the poor? Most of them aren't going to vote Republican anyway, so them dying would increase his chances of winning, and he can make a lot of money from the lobbyists by playing along. Kills two birds with one stone.
If you have money and can afford healthcare I guess you are priviledged. If you can' afford it, fu*k you. Is that Sen. Demint(ed) belief?
I'm guessing DeMint would say he is a religious man too.
progressives, he prefaces his remarks with, "Those god damned people..."
he's a real christian and believes the poor should suffer for the sins of the rich.
Calvinism.
Well golly gee Jimbo... We Canadians consider our health care a birthright. Different strokes for different folks i guess.
Charming.
..off the table?
Anyway, there's a big storm out in the ocean.
Gotta' get my head on straight and get psyched up...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8_38LHTeDg
b'bye
but have fun!
Where on the east coast are you? We are expecting to have five to six foot swells by Sunday afternoon. We'll probably take a ride over to the beach and see the action.
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Their audience would never remember what that phrase meant, even if you use video tape to remind them...they can't hear you. Fox doesn't need to be factual, it simply doesn't matter as their audience discounts every other news source.
This thought ran through my head, but then it started making sense in this context: Are we experiencing a real-life case of brainwashing via a cable TV channel? I'm not speaking metaphorically, I mean for real...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYucU765-M8
MSM is engaged in brainwashing.
Well I have to admit, I have a dirty mind.
That's why they don't like old dirty hippies. We refuse to let them wash our brains. We like them with a little grit on them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vXfV50-5-Y
ruined by Campbell's horrific acting. The dialog dripped authenticity. Great book.
And John Wayne is Lord Laurence Olivier?
right. Brainwashing isn't just for the spies.
to mold, manipulate. control and shape peoples needs and desires just like they always have.
Now though they are seriously attempting to turn it into a world of Idiocracy.
Even the kid doing this review is a victim and doesn't realize it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVPKNIGCztk
rightwing radio. In some parts of the country, that's all they get with a few religeous stations.
Long answer: That's been their game since the beginning of time. By continually repeating shocking statements, by bringing on weak liberals (or no liberals at all) while maintaining the guise of "fair and balanced", and by changing the news in subtle ways and not letting the facts get in the way, they are definitely affecting public discourse.
Now they're saying that anything Obama/Democrats do is not only big news, but it's something as violently destructive as a nuclear explosion. This is propaganda at its finest.
channels? Corporate owned newspapers? Corporate owned magazines? All of them? Nooooo! Could not happen.
Notice how close the camera is closing in on the trolls in the background to prevent showing how small their numbers are compared to the rest of the group?
It's like mcramp's rallies toward the end of his presidential run was getting so close, soon we'd be getting live pick-ups from inside his nostrils.
GOP Propaganda!
In U.S. politics, the "nuclear option" is an attempt by a majority of the United States Senate to end a filibuster by majority vote, as opposed to 60 senators voting to end a filibuster. Although it is not provided for in the formal rules of the Senate, the procedure is the subject of a 1957 parliamentary opinion and has been used on several occasions since. The term was coined by Senator Trent Lott (R Mississippi) in 2005.
the rest is here. someome save it somewhere else before GOP operatives revise it!
Technically that called a vote of cloture.
This order was important, because his troops were low on ammunition.
You'd think they'd be aware of this lesson? Not only are they resorting to firing blanks, they've given us plenty of ammunition for future conflicts. I guess their philosophy needs a new testament.
Being cordial is not an option with fundamentalist.
Don't fight it... deflect it!
I mean the real nuclear option. Surely I'm not the only one who thinks the filibuster is thoroughly idiotic? It's subverting democracy and leaving us with political stagnation.
The Founding Fathers never intended that ordinary Senate bills would require a qualified majority, if they had, they'd have put it in the constitution. (It's not like they didn't know the difference - constitutional amendments require a qualified 2/3 majority.)
Senate representation is undemocratic as it is (disproportionate representation), and it was intended from the start to be a bit more conservative, hence the 6-year terms. But it was never ever intended to require things to have a 3/5 majority!
I don't care if some bad bills have been stopped by filibuster. Democracy means the majority gets to make mistakes as well. (and be penalized by the voters for it) If you believe your party makes the best policy, you've got nothing to fear in the long run.
I know of no other (first-world) parliament who's got such an undemocratic rule. Non-coincidentally I don't know any other parliament that's quite as dysfunctional as ours.
Kill the filibuster already!
US has a weird system. I always wonder ? If the US political system is so damn good ? Why do they always promote democratic parliments in the conquered territories . Why cant we all have a representative republic ? We can build a whole bunch of K Streets and all get rich too.
I heard Anderson Cooper use the same term as The fox newsies just a few days ago. It's all over cable news. Politicians have talking points and the mainstream news media has catch phrases.
Fox News just vindicates the wisdom of George Orwell.
michael smirkonish used the term "nuclear option"
this morning on the TODAY show...
you'd think HE'd know better... not?
"give 'em and inch..." (and he got the prez...)
Only complete, uneducated morons can stomach the habitual lies everytime they watch Faux News propaganda and entertainment.
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