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To: OldDeckHand

Then why not get up and filibuster the old fashioned way.

Just get up and talk endlessly?


22 posted on 01/05/2010 9:30:16 AM PST by Bigh4u2 (Denial is the first requirement to be a liberal)
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To: Bigh4u2
Then why not get up and filibuster the old fashioned way. Just get up and talk endlessly?

I believe the rules have been changed to allow a super-majority (the critical 60 votes) to vote to shut down a filibuster and the dems have their 60 votes. The good old days when a lone Senator can use the filibuster to both slow the progress of bad legislation and to point a media spotlight on it are gone, unfortunately. This, I think, is a terrible thing. It was one of the key things about the Senate that set it apart and allowed even a lone Senator to have influence. Now it'a all about the parties and only the parties.

29 posted on 01/05/2010 9:43:44 AM PST by pepsi_junkie (Who is John Galt?)
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To: Bigh4u2
"Then why not get up and filibuster the old fashioned way."

Because while you're talking, the opposition is voting. Technically, if you talk past the gavel, whomever is presiding may rule the speaker "out of order", subjecting them to removal from the Well by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

The GOP did everything it could to slow-down this process. But, with the super-majority that the Dems enjoy, there was absolutely no way to stop the inevitable process without at least one other Democrat or Independent joining the GOP filibuster attempt. Those are the Senate rules as they currently exist today.

33 posted on 01/05/2010 9:56:41 AM PST by OldDeckHand
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