Post Sunday, December 01st, 2002
Republicans seem to have found their backbone in the Senate. An NY Times article says that judiciary committee chairman Orrin Hatch is no longer playing nice with judiciary committee Democrats. He’ll no longer allow “blue slips” from a home state senator to block a judge.
“I’m going to get those courts filled,” Mr. Hatch said, adding that a priority would be to win the confirmations of Charles W. Pickering Sr. and Priscilla R. Owen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit based in New Orleans. Both candidates were rejected by the committee when it was under Democratic control.I hope this newfound steeliness extends to other Senate rules as well. The Democrats certainly used every trick available to them when they had a one vote majority, obtained through a defection. It’s about time Republicans stopped suffering from Battered Republican Syndrom.Still seething, Republicans are not prepared to show any mercy now.
“There is no interest in compromise,” lamented a senior Democratic Senate aide. Said a senior Republican counterpart: “We pretty much don’t need to compromise.”
For instance, rather than allowing the “gentleman’s filibuster,” which doesn’t actually require a senator to talk while filibustering a bill, Lott should bring back the old rules. Says Mark Byron:
If they are blocking popular issues, then the GOP can put their feet to the fire and let them filibuster. I’ve yet to see someone do this-if you’ve got a 58-42 vote and the public is 65-35 in your favor on this issue, let them filibuster; not the gentleman’s filibuster where they don’t bring up a bill without 60 votes, but an honest-to-goodness, 24/7, Robert Byrd reciting the entirety of Robert’s Rules of Order at 3AM filibuster. Let them cancel Book TV on C-SPAN2 for a couple of weeks while the Senate is in continuous session. Let the leftist sound bites from the Democratic obstructionists flow over the airwaves, as well as the GOP message that this is a popular bill that has bipartisan support. Let the telephone switchboards light up in protest. Let thoughtful neolibs (no, that’s not an oxymoron) point out the error in their ways. Let the blogfire fly. Sounds like a plan.