[FairOpinion]

Senate rules.

It looks like the Senate is full of rules to promote obstructionism by individual Senators -- there is somethign wrong here -- they promote tyranny of the minority to an amazing extent.

And when the Republicans were in the minority, they didn't use all these avenues, they were bending over backwards to cooperate with the Dems.

[mgc1122]

Presumably, there is no Senate rule for loading up her phone banks and email boxes with pointed criticisms ... hint, hint.

[BackInBlack]

"And when the Republicans were in the minority, they didn't use all these avenues, they were bending over backwards to cooperate with the Dems."

True, though the Democratic majority was darn big. They had more power than the Republicans now do. Lesson: increase our majority. It's obviously not enough.

[zeugma]

To be fair, (I really hate doing that with these people), Helms used parlamentary tricks quite a bit to hold people up that he didn't agree with. Most of the time, I'd say I agreed with his position, but he was (in)famous for excercising his perogatives.

[PeskyOne]

I think it's time we 'stopped bending over backwards to cooperate with Democrats', and met force with force. I hope Frist brings this to a vote on Monday. I think we will win with our slight majority, and I would rather lose fighting than 'rolling over again for these obstructionist socialists. If the rogue Republicans vote with the Democrats on this, let them feel pain where it hurts. When their constituents lose some perks, they might realize they need to replace these jerks.

Thanks for posting the graphs....they are interesting!

[Luke21]

It's amazing that we only learn these different methods of obstruction when the Commies are in the minority. When the Pubbies had the minority they acted like butt kissing lapdogs, especially Dole and Lott.

[You Dirty Rats]

It looks like the Senate is full of rules to promote obstructionism by individual Senators -- there is somethign wrong here -- they promote tyranny of the minority to an amazing extent.

The Senate gives a lot of power to individual Senators as well as the minority. In the Senate, compared to the House, it just isn't easy to ram legislation or confirmations through in a rush -- there is always the chance for a Senator to slow down the process and ask for more deliberation and reflection. Actually, I generally agree with this line of thinking.

The problem now is that the 'Rats are using the power to slow down as a power to block everything they don't like permanently. That's going too far. People like Boxer are totally unreasonable and will end up as squashed bugs on the windshield of Bill Frist's train when it starts down the tracks next week.