Who Wants A Filibuster?
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008What is best for the country is a Senate where Republicans hold on to the filibuster. (That becomes less likely as Ted Stevens goes down for the count.) It will moderate choices, give the government some form of restraint. Maybe. The Senate is packed full of chummy buds and plenty of Republicans who will do their master’s bidding. Oh! You think I mean the voters? Au contraire. mon ami. I’m talking about Democrat Senators.
But here’s the thing about the Republicans having the filibuster. As long as they have it, every “bad” thing ever done or not done or thwarted will be blamed on Republicans. It won’t matter that there’s a Democrat in the White House. It won’t matter that Democrats control the House like they have for two years. It won’t matter that the Democrats control the Senate in a huge way. No, the way every piece of hung up legislation will be handled will be be to blame the Republicans even though they have next to zero power to stop anything any Democrat wants.
There is a reason the Democrats are bringing the Auto execs to capital hill now. They have political cover–they can still blame the Republicans for a failed bailout.
In a couple months, Democrats have to balance the budgets (yeah, right), figure out how to not look like weak losers when it comes to our military engagements, keep psychotic leftists hell-bent on destroying America’s social fabric happy and they have to do all this without excuse. They own it.
They own it all without reservation if Republicans don’t have the filibuster in the Senate.
Americans watch with keen interest how the hope and change crowd are hopefully going to change things. That is to say, Americans, the fickle pickles that they are, want some change but not too much change. The Democrats overreach and they will be punished. After eight years of non-stop bitching, moaning and complaining, they have it all. Americans gave it to them. The mood is generally: Shut up and get to work.
What will Nancy Pelosi have without the foil of George Bush to blame every one of her embarrassing failures on? How will Harry Reid appease the Kos Kids out for blood, literally? How will Barack Obama entreat the bitter Leftists while keeping the idealistic electorate convinced of his centrality?
A filibuster gives these opportunists cover. They don’t deserve it. But America will pay a steep price along the way for the lack of it.
Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com and The Houston Chronicle
Wow, The New Senate Republican Leadership Team Looks A Lot Like…
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008…..the old Senate Republican Leadership Team. And what would those “principles to believe in” be? And lots about “core ideas”. Uh huh. Color me skeptical.
I probably shouldn’t blog when I have low blood sugar. Makes me overly pessimistic. Actually, I think that hits about the right tone.
Patrick Ruffini: Senate Recruitment Project
Monday, November 17th, 2008Patrick Ruffini: Senate Recruitment Project
Awesome work at finding the “right” contenders in 2010. Go look.
Senate Wants To Empower Parent Censorship
Monday, October 6th, 2008Found via Slashdot, Matt Lasar reports:
The United States Senate has unanimously passed a bill that requires the Federal Communications Commission to explore what “advanced blocking technologies” are available to parents to help filter out “indecent or objectionable programming.” The “Child Safe Viewing Act” (S. 602) was sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat of Arkansas.
“With over 500 channels and video streaming, parents could use a little help monitoring what their kids watch when they are not in the room,” Pryor said in a press statement following the passage on Wednesday. “Today’s technology to protect children from indecency goes above and beyond the capabilities of the V-Chip. It’s time for the FCC to take a fresh look at how the market can empower parents with more tools to choose appropriate programming for their children.”
The text of the bill notes that the average child watches four hours of television a day. It also observes that “99.9 percent of all consumer complaints logged by the Federal Communications Commission in the first quarter of 2006 regarding radio and television broadcasting were because of obscenity, indecency, and profanity.” Many of those complaints are controversial, it should be noted, because they come from Web based autoforms that allow people who have not actually seen a program to file a complaint.
Well. I’ve complained not to the FCC but on my own personal bloggy soap-box about advertising and content thrown into the middle of shows aimed at families–NFL football games or the dancing shows, for example. Do I want more rules like this to find ways to censor?
The problem is that I’m usually sitting right there during this programming but the ads come on so quickly that the image is already in my kid’s head (the news blurbs are the worst and would ostensibly not qualify for censorship). The only answer is just turning the whole thing off.
Right about now, I’m just not in the mood to have the government creating another law to make my life better. They need to stop legislating on this crap and stick with building the military and rebuilding America’s infrastructure. All the rest of this legislative nonsense is not their business.
Cross-posted at Right Wing News
Lindsey Graham Is Why Republicans Lose
Friday, August 8th, 2008Via Eric Odom, via Twitter, the Conservative Belle says this (and this is a big fat quote from her):
There are five Republican senators who are cooperating with five Democrats to make McCain and Republicans look bad introduce an energy solution. Enter Lindsey Graham , John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson. Heroes in their own minds, but they have a plan. Go get your antacid before continuing. You’re going to need it.
This “Gang of 10″ announced a “sweeping” and “bipartisan” energy plan to break Washington’s energy “stalemate.” What they did was throw every vulnerable Democrat, and Mr. Obama, a life preserver.
That’s because the plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast — putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska’s oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go.
The highlight is instead $84 billion in tax credits, subsidies and federal handouts for alternative fuels and renewables. The Gang of 10 intends to pay for all this in part by raising taxes on . . . oil companies! The Sierra Club couldn’t have penned it better. And so the Republican Five has potentially given antidrilling Democrats the political cover they need to neutralize energy through November.
Gee thanks. And you know who this benefits? The Obamessiah. He is giddy and has praised their efforts. Obama can now ask why The Maverick isn’t supporting bi-partisan legislation. Oh, and it helps Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who is in the Gang of 10 and also considered the most vulnerable Democrat seat in the Senate.
Way to go, fellas. This is just the strategy that will prevent that filibuster-proof majority. Riiiiiiight. And for the record, none of these Republican senators are up for re-election this fall. Surprise!
I hate the Senate. I hate the Senate. I hate the Senate. These five Republicans need an ass-whuppin. The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican who tries to be one, too.
No wonder Republican grassroots can’t get anything going. They’re undone by the “visionaries” at the top.
Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com
