Let 'em end the filibuster...

[x-g.o.p.er]

Here's why. Democrats will control the senate, and the house, and the White House again. With the roughshod way the Republicans have been trampling individual liberties, I would suspect sooner rther than later.

Come 2006, and then 2008, with no filibuster ability available to Republicans, health care will get passed, ANWR will be forever off limits, real Social Security reform can take place, and Republicans will wonder what in the hell hit them.

Is this such a bad thing?

[skooooo]

1. Charles Schumer said...

...even if the Republicans get it passed, the public outcry will be so great that they will have to reverse the decision, just like they did with their "ethics rules" of last January.

I tend to agree, still it's scary to think this might actually happen.

[tk2kewl]

2. the nuke option is only for judges

[designforce]

9. BS

It is only the beginning. Once the door is opened, it will be ended for all items.

What could they do?

1. Social Security
2. Any labor law which helps working people
3. Impose The Draft
4. Ending the FCC, SEC, FTC, FDIC, and the OMB.
5. Any thing else they want to....

Letting their inner dictator see the light of day.

Then will people get involved? I wonder, as I believe most Americans are just sheep ready for the slaughter.

[atreides1]

10. But

You need to remember which party made that statement.

[fob]

13. Don't take this the wrong way but, Oh to be so naive!

You really think the current set of Fristians in power will STOP after just this *little bit more* slice of power?

They already scuttled the blue slip procedures (Hatch - with judiciary) which set up the climate whereby the filibuster is all the Dems have left. so now they will take that away "for judges" only, then the blue slip will have to be scaled back for other nominees (see Boxer/Hold/Bolton), then the filibuster will have to be nuked again "for nominees" only. Lather. Rinse. Revolution!

[Anywho6]

21. I agree!! "Slippery slope"

The RP would advertise their victory as another "mandate." These people are only getting started if this thing goes through. Very scary.

[Wapsie B]

3. That's what Bob Dole was saying

weeks ago. He was urging his party to show some restraint here due to this very fact. This will end up biting repugs in the ass big time. Diebold's grip on elections won't last forever.

[RC]

4. You forget the no paper trail electronic voting machines,

owned and operated by the rightwingnuts.

[fishnfla]

5. I say ley them vote on the judges and KEEP the filibuster

Frist is gonna ride this show to the WH-he's getting mega airtime over some arcane rules people dont get

[beaconess]

6. If we take back WH/Congress, they'll change the rule back during lameduck

[librechik]

11. yep, they'll only keep it long enough to get Dobson into the Supremes

then right back to filibustering lefties til our ears bleed.

Maybe Falwell. He has more credibility.

[Avalux]

7. Are you insane?

Thinking that way is dangerous - in fact, you sound like a republican.

And what makes you so sure Democrats will have all that control? Until we have verifiable voting, we'll never control anything ever again.

[x-g.o.p.er]

16. No, I'm quite sane. But thanks for asking. Seriously...

I truly believe Democrats will be in control sooner rather than later. Diebold isn't everywhere, and neither are these legions of Republicans that the media likes to portray as the majority.

Look, my point is this--the backlash from the public from this, along with the Schiavo fiasco, will cause a shift to the left in American politics, and if the Republicans exercise the nulear option, I think it will blow up in their face tenfold in the coming years.

I'm thinking long term, but the long term is what's important.

You said I sound like a Republican, well I'm not. I used to be one though, until about 18 months ago.

[Avalux]

18. I understand your point

but the filibuster, the rights of the minority, must be preserved. I don't want this country to be ruled by one party, even if it is the Democrats (although that sounds good right about now). Does that make sense? There always has to be a way for the minority to be heard. Otherwise the powerful become more powerful and no matter who they are, corrupt.

[housewolf]

8. Yes it's such a bad thing - eliminating the filibuster on judicial nominat

because these are LIFETIME appointments, it's virually impossible to undue judicial appointments once there made

[x-g.o.p.er]

17. True, and a solid point. But consider...

That every president has a slew of judicial appointments, and the next democrat will be able to balance what GWB has put forth. Progressives will be appointed in numbers equal to conservatives.

It will even out.

[beaconess]

24. Not necessarily

Bush has more opportunities to appoint judges than Clinton had - and considerably more than he deserves - thanks the the Republican pocket filibusters of so many of Clinton's nominees. Because Republicans kept those seats open long enough for Bush to fill them, Bush has had the benefit of not only the appointments to seats that naturally opened up during his term, but also has been able to fill seats left open by Republican obstructionism.

Republican appointees already hold 58% of the federal judiciary. That number will go even higher during the next four years, even without the nuclear option. However, if the nuclear option succeeds, Republicans will gain unprecedented control over the federal judiciary and it will take several terms to balance it back out.

[deadparrot]

12. Do you think the American people are actually paying attention?

And will they remember a year and a half from now on Election Day, or care enough to go vote them out? Sometimes I have my doubts...

[beaconess]

14. Agree - these are the same people who KNEW that we were lied into Iraq

watched their civil liberties erode and saw their economic security wash down the drain and STILL voted to put this man back in office.

I'm not holding out much hope that the filibuster issue will get their goats. But we should try anyway.

[gizmo1979]

15. keep feeding them rope

sooner or later they will hang themselves!

[Sparkly]

19. I can't imagine where we'll be by 2008 if they go through with this.

And these are *lifetime* judicial appointments.

What will they use this precedent for -- what else will they decide can't be filibustered? Surely they realize that they won't always be in the majority, so I think they've got more up their sleeve. New rules about "national emergencies," a new state-run media, and long-term deregulations favoring corporate greed and attacking labor, the environment, etc... Who knows?

It'd be quite dangerous for them to have such free reign, for any period of time.

[BattyDem]

20. One word: Diebold

How are Dems going to regain control of anything when the Repugs control the machines? :shrug:

[stevedeshazer]

22. Hell yes, it's a bad thing

By then, Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, and maybe Ginsburg will RETIRE, not to mention all the federal district radicals they will ram through in the next three years.

We can't wait that long to block this.

And how are we magically coming to power in 2006/2008?

[VoiceOfFreedom]

23. dude.............

It's the worst thing that could happen other than the Patriot Act which has already happened.

[Eloriel]

25. You just can't count on that, not with the voting machines.

Sorry, but them's the facts. They'll let enough Democrats win to make it not look TOO phoney, but it's all over, x-g.o.p.-er.