Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhen Republicans play with fire
Just how unprecedented is their filibuster of Chuck Hagel? In a word: Very
BY STEVE KORNACKI
Whether theyll cop to it or not, Republicans are currently engaged in a filibuster of Chuck Hagels nomination to be Defense secretary.
Jim Inhofe, Oklahomas conservative senior senator, has attempted to place a hold on Hagels nomination. Lindsey Graham has indicated his willingness to do the same. Generally, such requests are granted as a courtesy by the majority leader, but Harry Reid has opted not to honor them in this case and has gone ahead and filed a cloture motion. Thus, 60 votes will be required for there to be a simple up/down vote on the nomination. As Jonathan Bernstein writes, there is no way to call this anything but a filibuster.
What a shame, Reid lamented after filing his motion on Wednesday. Thats the way it is.
Reid may simply have been speaking as a White House ally there, but hes also a Senate institutionalist, one who to the consternation of many progressives activists balked at an effort last month to water down the chambers filibuster rules. Reid clearly believes in the unique individual prerogatives that the Senate grants its members and is loath to break with tradition and create new procedural rules and precedents especially if they might come back to bite his party the next time its in the minority. From an institutionalists standpoint, whats happening now with the Hagel nomination is very troubling.
Simply put, were in uncharted territory. Look at it this way: Hagel is on course to be the first Pentagon nominee and only the third Cabinet nominee ever to face a 60-vote requirement for confirmation. But even that understates it, because the other two C. William Verity and Dirk Kempthorne werent up against serious filibusters.
-snip-
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/when_republicans_play_with_fire_2/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1028 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
When Republicans play with fire (Original Post)
DonViejo
Feb 2013
OP
CanonRay
(14,105 posts)1. Harry Reid is an idiot
plain and simple. As naive as a person can get. They played him like a cheap fiddle.
At some point you'd think Charlie Brown would learn that Lucy is going to yank away the football. On the other hand, Charlie Brown is just a cartoon character, not Majority Leader of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body.