Is filibuster saved for good or can they get rid of it later?

[Quixote1818]

With a Supreme Court nominee?

[wtmusic]

1. next Congress

it's gone for this one. In the meantime they should reinforce the rules to end debate, and make it impossible for the President of the Senate to change them unilaterally.

[Zen Democrat]

2. I don't know. The Senate is an on-going body.

The Congress changes every two year with everybody newly elected or reelected. The Senate is 1/3 change every two years -- so it's considering on-going.

[wtmusic]

6. it's still divided into two-year Congresses

each with two sessions. It's my understanding that the nuke ban extends through the end of this Congress.

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/one_item_and_teasers/Years_to_Congress.htm

[NuttyFluffers]

3. they can get rid of it in the next fabricated 'crisis'

let's lose any pretense that this was a 'victory.' we've been living under a coup d'etat and the cruel overlords are just worried about waking up the masses. irrevocably changing one branch into a rubber stamp would've definitely woke up americans, or at least put such a vice on them that this nation would buckle beyond recovery.

whatever, just trying to avoid the inevitable without actually putting up a fight. wake me when americans actually care about ridding us of our despots.

[caligirl]

4. Frist said in his speech he would be watching closely and could

bring it back if he doesn't like how things are going. However since the mod repugs and dems just sliced him off at the knees, and Cheney and bush and their neo con fascist Fristian extremism he doesn't have the clout anymore. his sadness you may have seen as he spoke was the deflating political career of a serial neo con Fristian abuser.

[wtmusic]

7. He can bring it back all he wants

if Warner & Co. don't support him he's out of luck.

[caligirl]

9. Right. Frist was just given his looser tag. His way is out, the centrists

are taking back their party.

[markus]

5. They only need to turn one of the signatories

and they have 50 + Chenney. And remember, the bar has been lowered. Nominating any of the Terrible Three (or their fellow travelers) would not be an exceptional circumstance.

All we have gained is a respite that will not last out this Congress.

[makhno]

8. Very good point - the bar's been lowered

The Dems gave three extremely conservative judges a lifetime appointment. These are representatives of the hardest line in pro-corporate, anti-citizen legal thought. The Dems will simply not be able to invoke the "exceptional circumstances" for any raving lunatic right-wing appointment anymore, as the precedent for what's common (the opposite of exceptional) has been set tonight. The leftist equivalent of these judges would be Noam Chomsky with a JD.

It's a long-term defeat. One might argue the short-term public perception points gathered by either party, but the Democrats really dropped the ball on this one.

[caligirl]

10. I don't think mod repugs would have gone this far if they planned to

let these judges thru. I doubt they get the votes.

[makhno]

13. I don't think any Republican senator

has it in him/her to vote down an appointee that is so important to their party and president. Remember, those people do not have a political agenda based on what we, regular folk, call "values", moderate, radical or other. They have an individual agenda framed by the need to secure financial support from the corporate interests that are bankrolling every single campaign in this country, while balancing this out with the moral stance of their core electorate, which unfortunately happens to be largely conservative.

If the "moderates'" puppet masters will like these judges - and there's no reason for them not to - expect an up vote, with maybe a couple of Republican dissenters for show and a Democrat or two voting in support.

[Guaranteed]

11. We saved it if we get out there, show people the memo and let it

be known that our right to filibuster is fully retained. It is at OUR discretion, not theirs.

The problem is they're spinning it. We have to get in front of that and let people know what they agreed to.

[lonestarnot]

12. That appears to be the beauty of this deal .... Fristfuck is dead in the

water. Not going to take it away now...that is merely an idle threat.