Posted on 05/26/2005 9:03:32 PM PDT by CHARLITE
The deal to avert a change in Senate cloture rules is more than just a temporary outbreak of sanity in this highly charged partisan accelerator chamber. It amounts to a transfer of leadership from the polarized, party leaders to the narrow but critical center of the institution.
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) still has the corner office, and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still has the key to the executive washroom, but it is the 14 senators who crafted this deal who now are the people to see in the Senate. Few realized that when the Republicans garnered 55 seats in the elections of 2004 it did not represent a gain toward achieving cloture as much as it set the stage for a transfer of leadership.
Now it takes just as many renegades from the left to break a filibuster as it does from the right to pass a bill. This parity is conferring tremendous power on the moderates. Although there are very few of them, these centrists can now stand to achieve a great deal of power.
Whatever their motives, let's celebrate the fact that there now exists, in effect, a third-party caucus in the Senate of moderates from both parties. They may offer a chance for us to be rid of the reflexive and revolting partisanship that has led to government shutdowns and presidential impeachments, each equally abhorrent to most voters.
We can only hope that this new middle of the Senate will take the agenda away from the extremes in each party and bring government back to the middle, where it belongs.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Ha! Big toe, little toe are the only ones I can identify unless you count the generic "little piggy".
I see that Morris has been munching on "the insane root that doth make reason mad".
"The Majority Leader needs to use some of the perks and privileges of that position to advance the party's agenda...."
Think...Conservative LBJ...Conservative LBJ...why doesn't someone send an oil portrait of him to Frist to hang in his office for inspiration?
Have to make the masses THINK they have a choice.
You don't get your principles realized without exercising power. Otherwise you just get what we've got now. Constant compromise and whining excuses. And pork will never go away. Even under a conservative administration. The current one is a good example, of course.
Next time some yahoo blathers on about "compromise" suggest that you'd like to kill them, but since they'd prefer to live you could "compromise" by just cutting off their hand. Still want to "meet in the middle?"
Wow!
You can sure tell this is stale news.
Only 24+ hours old and it seems dated from Tuesday morning.
Actually, the middle knows when someone welched on a deal.
All they know (and understand) is that as of Monday, there would be no fillibusters. As of today, they know the Democrats filibustered.
The details aren't important - Democrats and fillibustering have been connected for three whole glorious days.
The judges aren't just one or two issues they are responsible for the drastic changes we have seen in this country in the last 35 years. The truth is the majority of people in this country want conservative judges who don't meddle with the constitution. I've said it before, we have a government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers and to hell with the consequences.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.