Posted on 09/29/2014 5:59:35 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
Prepare for the return of the confirmation fight.
If Republicans capture the Senate majority in November, their sway over prominent judgeships and Cabinet vacancies — potentially including a new attorney general — will become one of the GOP’s primary leverage points against President Barack Obama. Continue Reading
But first the GOP must decide whether to adopt Senate Democrats’ bellicose tactic to allow approval of most executive branch nominees by a simple majority vote. The rules change to the filibuster was implemented by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but it could now come back to bite him.
Republicans left Washington already divided over how they would approach this critical element of majority rule. GOP senators are undecided on whether to restore the previous 60-vote threshold for all presidential nominees except those to the Supreme Court or leave the filibuster hurdle where Democrats set it, at a simple majority.
And, perhaps surprisingly, some Republicans say they aren’t bent on revenge.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Someone remind me again of why we want to turn the senate over to McCain and his ilk?
It was called the "nuclear option" for a reason. If the Republicans try to un-ring that bell now, they will demonstrate exactly my point in my rant below, with which I assume many Freepers are now familiar, given how often I post it.
If the Republicans do win the Senate, they should keep the Democrats filibusterless while the Republicans try to use that advantage to undo, or prevent, as much of Obama's damage, or planned further damage, as possible.
Then, MAYBE in the fall of 2015, the Republicans might agree to restore the filibuster in exchange for a Democrat concession, such as agreeing to vote to remove Obama after the House votes to impeach him.
(Obviously the Senate majority leader would have to have an agreement in place with the House Speaker to have an impeachment vote.)
But no . . . Mitch McConnell will give the Democrats back their filibuster power early in the first session, in order to be "fair" and "reach across the aisle."
And now, without further ado, here is my increasingly well-known but still constructive rant about why we should ALL stop voting for RINOs:
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No more voting for RINOs ever, under any circumstances. Period.
In the past I voted for McCain, and Romney nationally, and for Scott Brown in Massachusetts. But I guess it depends on your belief in how far gone this nation is, and what it will take to restore it, assuming that is even possible at this point.
Personally, I now believe that the only way to save America at this point (assuming such a thing is still possible) is to put conservatives in political offices and enact an agenda based on free markets, limited government and the rule of law. As long as we have a Republican party that actively opposes those ends (and we do, obviously), then I believe our only (slim) hope is drastic action.
As long as the Republican Party establishment believes that it can continue to survive by being Democrat-lite, and that it can continue to maintain power while actively fighting against the core principles of liberty, free markets and Constitutional law, it will never make the necessary change of direction.
Only when the Republican party understands that it must change or die can we hope to turn this country around. Our too-long-serving entrenched establishment politicians can still enjoy their comfy lifestyles, their wealth, power and prestige as members of a minority party. So why should they bother to change direction?
Surely a John Boehner (or an Eric Cantor -- had he not been defeated -- or a Mitch McConnell) would be just as happy to be minority leaders if the election cycle didn't go their way. Yes, they would prefer to be majority leaders, but what good would it do them if a conservative Republican Party won the majority and then threw them out of their cushy positions and all those perks, replacing them with real conservatives?
Ask yourself -- which do you think Mitch McConnell would prefer -- a majority Republican party in which he was stripped of his position by a conservative majority, or a minority Republican party in which he could remain Senate minority leader because the majority of Republican senators were RINOs?
You may argue that we have no time to wait for the Republicans to realize that their only choice is to change or die as a viable party. But if we don't have time for that, then what makes you think we have time to wait for the RINOs and the GOP-e to pursue a "moderately marginal" course of action designed only to maintain their personal fiefdoms at the expense of a free America operating under the rule of Constitutional law?
The GOP had majority power in the House and Senate, and occupied the White House, 10 years ago. What did all that power do to move the agenda of liberty forward? Answer: nothing.
A GOP that cannot even sell liberty, limited governments and free markets to the American people is worse than useless. It is a party of tyranny enablers, and I will have none of it.
Unbelievably, today we once again face the stark choice between liberty and death.
Once again, these are the times that try men's souls. Conservatives need to be waging aggressive war against the totalitarian leftist tyrants on all fronts -- in the branches of government at the federal and state level, in academia, in the media, through public demonstrations, and in the voting booth.
Many argue that we must continue to vote for "the most electable conservative," which means "vote for the RINO if no conservative is running." But I respectfully disagree with that choice. I am done enabling.
If we really are to lose the greatest country in the history of the world, then let's at least be fighting for it when it goes down.
And who knows, maybe -- just maybe, if we show sufficient resolve and conviction -- divine Providence will once again provide the support that gave our founders their unlikely victory in 1776, and grant us once again the "new birth of freedom" that Lincoln called for a century later.
If you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. The RINOs have managed to own the Republican party because they know that conservatives have nowhere else to go.
To continue voting for RINOs is to play right into that strategy. The RINOs have become so certain of your vote that they actually believe they can continue to stay in power by declaring outright war on the conservative base.
And when they do that, they are actually declaring war on core American principles -- war on liberty, war on free market economics, and even war on the Constitution.
The RINO Republicans cannot even make an appeal to the traditional American love of those principles, because they have lost the credibility and historical awareness to articulate them, let alone promote them.
Yes, having Harry Reid continue as majority leader is a horrific scenario. But having RINO Republicans win that office is only a marginally better short-term outcome.
And in some ways it is even worse, because as the RINOs “reach across the aisle" to promote marginally modified Democrat policies, they give the Democrats cover from the well-deserved blame that they have unleashed on our country for the last five years.
America is out of time now. We cannot continue on the current path. And as things continue to deteriorate, who do you think the voters will blame if the Republicans are in power when the 2016 elections come around?
You think Mitch McConnell's senate will repeal Obamacare? You think it will take the right position on immigration? You think a Republican Senate will vote against Obama’s left wing Supreme Court nominations?
America needs clear, passionate and articulate voices to advocate and defend our founding principles, to secure our borders, to preserve our nation, and to take legislative and administrative steps to turn this country around, assuming it still can be turned around.
Majority leader Mitch McConnell will NEVER provide that voice or leadership. He is not the guy to turn things around for our formerly blessed nation.
But in 2016 a newly terrified Republican party will be forced to court instead of alienate the conservative base, and come 2017 will be in a position to put the party and our nation on the proper path. Such a duly chastised party has a real chance of nominating a Ted Cruz, instead of a Mitt Romney who, according to last night's panel on Fox News, is at this point the likely Republican presidential nominee.
So in November, for those whose only choice in the mid-terms is between a RINO and a Democrat, I urge them to stay home on election day, or vote third-party -- anything to prove the RINOs wrong in thinking that they can stay in power by literally declaring war on conservatism.
Think about it.
The filibuster change is on presidential appointments other than Supreme Court justices. Everything else can, and usually is, filibustered as the Republicans have shown over the last few years. And as the Democrats will show if the GOP takes the senate in November.
I agree with you.
HERETIC!
It’s time for a Republican Reformation. It’s the only way to save the GOP and the country. Voting for a RINO is worse than voting Democrat. Only elect conservative GOP candidates.
Totally agree.
The GOP needs to change. This neeeds to be made crystal clear to them.
Since the filibuster is only for appointments, keeping it nuked in a closely held Senate would allow RINO like McCain, Snow and Graham (who I think is going to win reelection) to cross the aisle and join with Dems to put Obama nominees on the bench with 50/50 or 51/49 or 52/48 votes.
The 60 vote filibuster for nominees needs to be restored in a GOP controlled Senate. Immediately.
Who are these conservative GOP candidates?
In the beginning they dazzle us with their speeches and such.
Then when they rise to power they let us down.
Oh, yeah, I’m sure John “Rambo” Boehner is going to fight really, really hard against the nominee.
Since the House doesn't have a say in the nomination process then it really doesn't matter if Boehner fights or doesn't.
If the GOP takes the senate back they need to let Harry and his boys play by the rules they adopted. The nuclear option won’t seem quite so wonderful at that point.
DO NOT GO BACK TO A 60 VOTE REQUIREMENT!!!!! Can Republicans be that stupid???? Yes.
Demonuts trying a CONFIRMATION DISTRACTION for the Nov election
I wish I had the answer there—after being suckered by Rubio, I share your pain!
Though we can’t always tell who will stay the course, we can tell the traitors and some of the punk RINOs already in bed with the GOPe.
I wish we could turn tables on them by having ultra conservative candidates who pretend to be more leftist than Stalin himself.
Give a bunch of speeches about redistribution of wealth, social justice and all that other BS red meat for the LIV proletariat.
Get elected on lying to leftists and then restore the country!
The lefties could feel as ripped off as we do and we’d get our country back.
Everyone has a dream. : )
I forgot to mention-—they would run as democrats!
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