I love my country's version of Democracy.
A system of checks of balances that puts other nations to shame.
Now, do our reps have the guts to push for a show down? I sincerely hope so.
I wish they did trash the whole (unconstitutional) filibuster, but I thought the plan was just to dump its use for judicial appointments. The "tradition" of filibustering those goes back 4 years.
I thought Bolton was confirmed
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the idea was to eliminate filibustering ONLY on appointments? The aticle seems to imply that all filibustering will be eliminated.
BTW I am in favor of filibustering (not on appoinments) because it eliminates what John Stuart Mills called the "tyranny of the majority".
Good on our side! A lot of "traditions" need to be re-examined. Watch the libs cry and cry!
I'd like to see them go back to the original filibuster. Hold the floor of the Senate personally, none of this wimpy "gentleman's agreement" hogwash.
Of course the Republican's don't have the stones to push it back to that level, because then when it's their turn for the fundraising letters to plead "help us get back in charge" they'd have to have some Senators with the fortitude to stand up.
...the filibuster - a two-centuries-old Senate rule that in effect allows just 41 of the 100 members to obstruct legislation and nominations by talking as long as they can..."
And just how does this relate the what the f'head dems are doing by requiring 60 votes to stop a laugh called filibuster invoked by words only. They are NOT 'talking as long as they can'.
I would love to see "Sheets" Byrd get up and babble for the LAST three hours of his sickening life! May he rot in hell!
/vent
I wonder if this writer is really as ignorant and uninformed as he seems to be or if he is increbibly biased? This is merry old England's paper, is it not?
This is news to me. More likely, it's a gross exaggeration by the author.
Rehnquist is likely to be replaced and maybe O'Conner. So at best, we can replace a conservative and a moderate with two conservatives. But that still leaves 4 unabashed scumbags plus one wild card (Anthony Kennedy).
A meaningful return to respect for the Constitution and the rule of law will only begin when a scumbag gets replaced by a conservative. And I have a funny feeling that the scumbags will not leave the Court until there's a scumbag President to appoint their replacements.
They no longer have to actually talk, they just have to threaten to do so. The House once had such a filibuster rule, it was eliminated after less than a single century as being too condusive to obstructionism.
Futhermore, as I understand it, the Senate would only eliminate the filibuster when performing their duty to advise and consent on Presidential appointments, perhaps only on those to the Judiciary. Filibusters would still be possible on legislation.
This is insane!
We cannot, simply cannot terminate filibusters. I understand they are bad for our side these days as Democrats are likely to use them to block Republican legislation.
Nevertheless, we must keep in mind that Congress whether it is controlled by Republicans or Democrats, remains a part of government. Government cannot be trusted and our democratic system is meant to be slow and often inefficient.
Furthermore, what will happen if Democrats take back control of the Senate either next year or in '08?
It seems our Republican elected officials have become drunk with power.
When was the 'moving' filibuster, invented?
By that, I mean the idea that any one item could
be stopped, but other business could continue?
If the Dems want to filibuster, make them
do it the old way, by talking, like in the movie
'Mister Smith goes to Washington'.
The MSM will not tolerate this. Even if Democrats do close down the Senate, the MSM will still present Republicans as angry, Evangelical, right-wingers who are "breaking tradition" and being "partisan."
Prepare for a major fight. Not just with Democrats, but with the MSM.
This is great news. The filibuster is a colossal waste of time and money.
What is it with these Brits - can't they get anything right ..??
The Republicans are not destroying the filibuster - they're just destroying the democrats' power.
Mr.Sherwell is mis-informed.
The democRATs in the Senate are not doing any talking, they are just declaring that the nominations are "under filibuster" and then the Senate is going about other business.
If they applied the real rules of the filibuster, the vote would only be held up for as long as someone was up there talking.
The Senate president also could enforce that nobody leaves the chamber while the filibuster was in progress.
If they followed their own rule on filibusters, the problem would take care of itself, I guarantee you.
Could you imagine how drawn and ugly ol' Teddy Kennedy would look after a couple of days without sleep, having to remain in his seat while they filibustered?