Tom Daschle institutionalized the "threat of a filibuster" when he declared that "controversial" bills would require 60 votes to be had before allowing the bill to come to the floor. His 60-vote rule was based on the assumption that a controversial bill would be filibustered, and that 60 votes would be required to invoke cloture, therefore, if you didn't have 60 votes going in then the bill wouldn't be considered at all. What this was, was really tyranny of the minority. Instead of having 51 Senators decide what happened, only 40 Senators controlled what happened.
This is kind of like that Star Trek episode where the two planets were in a centuries-old war where people didn't really fight, they "pretend-fought" over computers and then went to death chambers when they were hit. That was too clean a way to fight a war, and Daschle's 60-vote rule was too clean a way to block bills.
Make them actually filibuster.
-PJ
...tyranny of the minority. Instead of having 51 Senators decide what happened, only 40 Senators controlled what happened."Tyranny of the minority." Great phrase. I'm gonna quote that a lot in the coming months, I expect. I like this one, too:
Tom Daschle institutionalized the "threat of a filibuster"