In a wierd way I am actually happy that we did not get to 60 plus senate Majority as

[TheCoxwain]

as the dems would be riding roughshod over the pukes in no time -- that would have made the Obama's campaign promise of inclusiveness much harder...

In other words .. President Obama will have more sway over the Congress in terms of Agenda now that he would have had with a filibuster proof majority.


DISCLAIMER: My argument here is based on the premise that we will have about 5-6 sensible Republican senators ( not Mavericks) who are willing to engage in open minded debate and will not blindly toe an idiotic ideological line.


what do you all think?

[hisownpetard]

1. I'd be really, really happy with 60.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Me too, with most of the 60 in liberal territory

[asksam]

16. I'd be even happier with 67

Then we can start expelling all the remaining Rethugs.

[billyoc]

2. I want their to be two major political parties in this country.

I just don't want the Republican party to be one of them.

Republicans delende est.

[Kitty Herder]

7. Same here.

I'd love to see the Democrats become the farthest right mainstream party in American politics with the Repubs being a far-right, fringe third party.

[tblue]

15. My thoughts exactly. I want their heads bowed down in shame.

The raging extremist Christ-fascist Right should be marginalized and largely ignored.

[TheCoxwain]

17. Leave that to the Republicans .. the far right will go down in the Civil war that is to ensue.

[The Magistrate]

4. Sensible Republican Senators Do Not Exist, Sir, But Some Can Be Broken To Acquiesence

If the full range of a Majority Leader's powers are used aggressively.

[PretzelWarrior]

13. explain how Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins haven't demonstrated

reasonableness on many issues?

[The Magistrate]

22. They Remain Republicans, Sir: It Really is That Cut And Dried

They simply enable and serve as cover for the reactionary core of that party. They hew to its discipline. Effort should be made to recruit them, but if they will not come over, they must be broken, and it be demonstrated they can do nothing at all, not so much as a dime or an intercession with the V.A., for their states, so long as they are Republicans.

[phillysuse]

5. The ladies from Maine will have their dance card

filled first. Olympia and Susan.
Then Arlen Spector and Voinovich.
Lugar for foreign policy/nuclear proliferation issues
Voinovich for eoconomic issues
Orrin Hatch for stem cell

[Fovea]

6. Sixty would have given us more ammo

to pry the control lever from the so called centrists.

Success is finding the new center, which is half a bubble over to the left from where the Dems say it is.

[StClone]

8. I'd take a lot less than 60 if

there were mostly Greens on the other side.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. I'd be happy to allow the people to make that decision, and I hope that the good people of GA...

kick Saxby "Shamefull" to the curb!!

[PassingFair]

10. Disagree.

We need all the Dems we can get, just
to over-ride the RIGHT-LEANING DEMS
that we have to contend with.

[PretzelWarrior]

11. I made a similar post yesterday or late into Tuesday night

[TheCoxwain]

21. link?

I am really interested in this idea

[PretzelWarrior]

25. I'm sure it's archived....I'll search for it. I was saying 60 no big deal

because on many single issues you have to manufacture a majority of votes anyway. So, if the governing minority wants any chance to get their party's fortunes going again, they will need to work together on a number of issues with Dems.

This can be a congress that gets strong support and votes from both parties precisely because we can't JAM STUFF THROUGH using 60 majority.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Let's all be friends.

[TheCoxwain]

14. Does the "ALL" refer to us DU'ers or Americans?

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. It was ironical, Coxwain. My real hope is that Obama does what

the Republicans do to the American public. I hope he sweet-talks them, then does exactly what he and the Democratic Party think needs to be done, i.e. precisely the opposite. No sense in being confrontational in his words. Just his deeds.

[TheCoxwain]

20. Wink -- that is my hope too -- just charm the pants of them --

eeeeeeewwwwwww

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. Brief and simple as that post of mine was, I felt it was one of my best ever posts.

The reason being, that, as I said, it was ironical, but however it was interpreted, I could not begin to express how deeply ironical for me, those few words are in this particular, party-political context. Even most of the Republican Party was apparently marginalised by the Bush cabal, his "in crowd".

Another op ed wrote a piece just now that was transparently sychophantic. He seemed to start off by threatening that having less than a majority of 60 in the Senate meant the Dems would be stymied if they didn't court the favour of the Republicans. Then he spent the second half of his post pleading for bipartisanship, for a reaching out, as Obama had pledged....

Well you know, Churchill said of a certain extreme right-wing political persuasion that caused havoc in WWII, that they were either "at your feet or at your throat". But I never expected to see it in writing in the space of a few paragraphs.

[Cleita]

18. I think your sensible Republican senators are about two. n/t

[TheKentuckian]

24. I might grant you a random 3 on select issues

but a regular group of 5-6 reasonable Republiscum Senators on anything resembling a consistent basis is pretty close to Mr. Roarke and Tattoo territory, AKA Fantasy Island.

Further, even the ones with half a brain and a shred of decency will cow-tow to the lunatic leadership and obstruct, obstruct, and obstruct some more. Added to this is that we will of course have trouble keeping our own on the reservation and you have a recipe for not getting things done as promised and pissing off the electorate.

We need an absolutely ruthless Majority Leader that will be determined to root out the obstructionist and that the American People "will know their names" and Obama will probably have to come to the hill with his "whomping stick" that was gifted to him by an elderly man around when he won the nomination and bust heads on occasion, as well.

Working under the assumption that there are a significant amount of GOP Senators that are willing to cooperate and negotiate for the good of the country is fairly dangerous thinking. There is no real precedent for such illusions in at least the last twenty years, other than Democrats rolling over and playing dead upon command.

[codjh9]

26. Personally, I'd like 100 :^), but I really would've liked 60. Yet I agree with you a bit on what

the actual numbers will likely make things work.