Why won't the Democrats in the Senate force the issue and make the Repuks filibuster.

[rhett o rick]

Show the American public how obstructive they are. Don't back down just because we don't have 60 votes, but make them filibuster every single time. At least of a couple of days.

[razors edge]

1. What?

And piss off their best buds?

[Benhurst]

2. We have to keep our powder dry.

Otherwise, how could we be powderpuff Democrats?

[Captain Hilts]

3. I think that's a good idea and that's what happened a couple of days ago. nt

[rhett o rick]

8. Sorry, what happened a couple of days ago?? nm

[Captain Hilts]

9. I think it was the Webb bill that they forced the R's to declare they were going...

for a fillibuster.

[Goblinmonger]

10. I think the OP means

to really actually make them filibuster. Make them stand up there and talk and don't shut up. And if they do, shit's over and the filibuster is done. Don't just let them threaten.

[Captain Hilts]

12. The ability to 'make' them fillibuster is a function of the voting ratios for each bill. nt

[rhett o rick]

19. Exactly, thank you. nm

[CanonRay]

4. I've been writing this to Salazar for months.

They're useless!

[rhett o rick]

5. Seriously, does anyone have a good clue as to why they aren't doing this? nm

[CitizenLeft]

14. it's not a pleasant answer, but...

...the last time they did it was when they had the cots brought in a few months ago, and they were RIDICULED for it... not only by the media, but by elements of their own base. They were called silly and charges of wasting time were leveled at them from every angle. Very similar to the reaction to all the hearings going on trying to fact-find and gather evidence. Republicans ridicule it, the media repeats it, and their own base, right here on this board, ridicule them for wanting more hearings. In my opinion, that's it in a nutshell. They should have thicker skin, but have little support from their own base, no matter what they do.

[Dr Fate]

6. We are "keeping our powder dry" for "the next fight." n/t

n/t

[AtomicKitten]

7. Cuz they don't want the Republicans to be mad at them.

kumbaya and all that crap

[Yukari Yakumo]

11. Will it make much of a difference?

If we don't have the votes to break a filibuster, we certainly don't have the votes to override a veto. And it doesn't matter for Chimpy, he's gone in less than 500 days. (At least he damn well better be.)

[Greyhound]

13. Because they have apparently taken an oath to make sure that Republiks

will still be a force in 2009, so when they stand around watching as the nation devolves into chaos and misery, they can say "it wasn't our fault".

[paulk]

15. one of the reasons, as I understand it

is that the last Congress, controlled by the Republicans and realizing that they had a good chance of losing that control, left a lot of business undone so that it would all be dumped in the lap of the incoming Congress.

Filibusters take time - they can take a lot of time - and it's time that the Congress really doesn't have if they want to get things accomplished - really basic things that pertain to the fundamental running of the country - like appropriation bills, etc.

The republicans are very good at this sort of thing - setting up situations where the Democrats will be blamed for something that the Republicans have created.

[CitizenLeft]

17. I'm not making excuses for Democrats...

...but this is so true: "The republicans are very good at this sort of thing - setting up situations where the Democrats will be blamed for something that the Republicans have created." It takes a Machiavellian mind to think up some of the shit they've pulled politically. Personally, I couldn't have done it. Anyone with a liberal mind simply doesn't think that way. And that's too bad, LOL. We never see it coming, and we don't respond well to it when it hits us like a 2 x 4. It takes an extremely savvy politician to counter the dirty tricks, and we've had very few Democrats who could do it. The Kennedys were good at it, so are the Clintons - like her or not, Hillary is a survivor. Somebody like Jimmy Carter? Forget it. We saw what happened to him. Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, even Gore, to some extent, though I think he'd be better at it now - all unable to handle it. Same goes for the Dem leadership. I don't see anyone in the Senate with that kind of savvy right now. And so, we keep getting clobbered.

[paulk]

18. Democrats want to govern; Republicans to rule

That's why you see such a war of ideas in the Democratic Party - democracy in action, as it were. The Republicans, on the other hand, always place ideology ahead of ideals, and, unfortunately, party ahead of the good of the nation.

The Iraq debacle, and the Republican reaction, couldn't be more instructive in this regard....

[CitizenLeft]

21. well said.

[madfloridian]

16. They wouldn't have time to vote against MoveOn and activists

if the Republicans filibustered too long.

[polichick]

20. I've thought they were either too polite or too chickenshit, but...

I'm beginning to wonder if they're just too much in cahoots with the Reps ~ it's really disturbing.