Saturday, July 20, 2013

Republicans will Nuke the Filibuster if they ever control the Senate

One of the most frustrating things I have to deal with on daily basis is the liberal belief that the filibuster must not be nuked because the Republicans will get back at the Democrats by doing away with it completely. That will happen anyway. We have to stop fooling ourselves.

As a first act of control, Republicans do away with the filibuster. A simple majority will allow them to dismantle nearly everything they've wished for in the last 70 years.

Until now, I thought I was the only one who thought so. Not even Democratic politicians think Republicans would be that crazy. They are now aren't they? The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein wrote about this idea because of an email he received from a Senate Democratic staffer:

I always thought that McConnell is actually giddy about being nuked. I know there are Rs who are concerned for the right reasons – health of the institution, retribution that would make it hard to pass much of anything, etc. But if you’re McConnell…wouldn't you want Reid to nuke you? It helps you raise money with the base, it means you don’t have to negotiate these nominations that your base doesn't like, and it leaves the door wide open to nuke us back – and worse – if they take over … if I were Machiavellian about things, and I sort of am, I’d want to get nuked … Once they’re in the majority and they nuke the filibuster, then they can pass all kinds of crazy stuff … Republicans are way better at falling into line than Democrats are, and we all know what kind of stuff the House is passing.

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