Posted on 10/06/2011 4:42:43 PM PDT by jazusamo
In a shock development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely-used procedural option informally called the nuclear option to change the Senate rules.
The surprise move stunned Republicans, who did not expect Reid to bring heavy artillery to what had appeared to have been a hum-drum legislative knife fight.
Reid appealed a ruling from the chair that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not need consent to force a vote on a motion to suspend the rules to consider an amendment after cloture has already been approved.
The maneuver is highly arcane but momentous. If a simple majority of the Senate votes to uphold Reids appeal, the Senates rules will have been changed by the unilateral action of one party.
Republicans had considered using this maneuver, dubbed the nuclear option in 2005, to change Senate rules to prohibit the filibuster of judicial nominees. Democrats decried the plan and the crisis was resolved by a bipartisan agreement forged by 14 rank-and-file senators known as the Gang of 14.
Read some Roman history.
The end game maybe the end of the Republic.
--------------------------
Everything libs do just grows the Tea Party more!
What’s idiotic is all the US has put up with from trade with China, from currency manipulation to Chinese protectionism to industrial espionage to steal US technology, not to mention endless copyright and patent violations and product copying and counterfeiting, and any other form of cheating anyone can think of.
And the silliest thing of all is all this fear-mongering about a trade war. We’ve been in a trade war with China from the beginning, but the US is yet to join the fight.
LOL! Sad but so true.
Oh I know, that is just one of the MANY reasons I had a hard time voting for McCain- it truly was a “lesser of two evils” vote.
They've been sprouting for a while now. This is a major escalation. Republicans had better expect the absolute worst as this election season heats up. The Rats see this as their big chance to unilaterally impose one-party socialist rule. They're going to use every dirty trick ever dreamed up by Marx, Mao, Stalin, Lenin and the rest of the Comrades.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2011-157
No Republicans supported Reid’s use of the ‘nuclear option’.
Chambliss and Isakson???? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
They’re out the next time they are up for re-election. Effin assholes.
Mark basically just reported the news on Drudge. Things are sure going to get interesting though when the republicans sweep Congress next year,,,LOL!
“I believe youre correct. The Rats better understand what goes around comes around.”
Fat chance so long as there corrupt metrosexual GOP members of congress.
Bring it on. When we get the majority in the Senate after next year’s elections, plus the presidency and an even bigger House majority, the Democrats won’t be able to do anything to stop our agenda even with 40-something Senators.
Harry Reid is an absolute moron for pushing this at a time in which the Republican House can block anything and the Republicans are 15 months away from capturing the Senate.
Its just a matter of time.
I completely agree. I told a friend tonight that we are much closer to armed conflict as the government is becoming a totalitarian regime.
Are you kidding? Republicans would never be that "mean", they're too busy reaching across the aisle.
That doesn’t seem to be what the Reid Rule change actually said. Reid called McConnell’s motion for cloture (motion to suspend the rules and vote to vote) out of order. The Democrat parliamentarian sided with Reid and the Senate only needed a 50 vote margin to confirm Reid’s action.
The result is that no minority member may seek a vote for cloture and thereby embarrass the majority by forcing a vote. This is a gambit on the Nuclear option that would have put conservatives on the Supreme Court and throughout the land had we not had the gang of 14 to sell us out. Again the pubies brought a knife to a gunfight.
China could really screw with us if they wanted to. So we impose tarrifs, China responds by raising prices .....or calling in debts,
who
Gore came so close in 2000 he can still taste it. He almost lawyered himself into the Presidency. With Obama’s Chicago political background, one or more stolen elections, including the Presidency, are not out of the question.
Or....
We have a President who refuses to reverse the socialist train wreck he leads. He seems unmoved by his own unpopularity or the very dangerous economic circumstances of our society. By Nov. 2012 we may have major rioting in the streets as a result. Recently, 2 Rats have mentioned suspending the elections. Congress is gridlocked. What better political climate to suspend elections & the Constitution?
I doubt the Rats could succeed in this, but it would destroy our republic, none the less. The resulting political conflict would be akin to civil war, with no sure winner.
The most glorious thing about that will be that Dingy Harry will no longer have power in DC. He is a snake. A vile, poisonous snake.
It will a joy to see him disgraced.
Republicans should be looking for opportunities to make this blow up in Harry Reid’s face.
Thanks for the link from HotAir.
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.