This puling
piece of work keeps showing up on my Facebook page:
The Democratic negotiating position on all issues put before them while they are in the House and Senate minority for at least the next two years should be very simple: You will give us Merrick Garland or you may go die in a fire.
Not only that, but they should do what they should have done the day Antonin Scalia died: Make it clear that the next time the Democrats control the Senate while the Republican Party controls the presidency, whether that is in 2019 or 2049, there will be an extraordinarily high price to pay for what just transpired. The next Republican president facing divided government will get nothing. This president will run the entire federal government by himself. Zero confirmations. No judges, not even to the lowliest district court in the country. No Cabinet heads. No laws. Budgets will be approved only after prolonged and painful crises. Whoever this GOP president is, he or she will be forced to watch while their presidency and everything they hoped to achieve in government is burned down while the Democrats block the fire hydrant and laugh.
And Democrats should be confident knowing that American voters will never, ever hold them accountable for it. On the contrary, they will almost certainly be rewarded with sweeping power.
This is apparently what Democrats need to do now that they've learned that magnanimity doesn't work. Well, as Dennis Miller says, keep it up. People love this stuff.
So, the party of government is going to shut down the government?
ReplyDeleteIf you're irritated enough, it's OK.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure how they think this 'fighting dirty' is supposed to happen. Harry Reid nuked the filibuster for all Executive Branch appointments below the Supreme Court just over three years ago in a snit fit over some DC appellate court justices. Reconciliation (courtesy of Robert Byrd, D-KKK) allows simple majority votes in the Senate for spending bills and has been in place for decades. In other words, they can go pound sand for all the good it will do them, and they are the ones that put the procedures in place (so long as the Stupid Party doesn't restore the filibuster, and I think McConnell's stance on Garland shows he isn't likely to).
ReplyDeleteWhoops, my bad, if they get a majority in the Senate. Still worth pointing out that they are the ones that changed the rules over time to deliberately remove the need to compromise with a significant *Republican* minority in the Senate.
ReplyDeleteThis is apparently what Democrats need to do now that they've learned that magnanimity doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteGood thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read that.
The party of "I won" has suddenly discovered that turnabout is not fair play.
Three times in since 2004 Massachusetts has changed the procedure whereby a vacant US Senate seat is filled, depending on whether there is a Republican or Democrat governor. Of course, the legislature has been Democrat, enabling them to play this game.
I am reminded of the 2000 Florida recount, whereby Democrats suddenly discovered that ballots designed by Democrats in Democrat-controlled counties were not fairly designed and had to be reinterpreted. This hanging chad actually means... [Does that mean that Democrat voters are so dumb that they don't know how to fill out a ballot?] Democrat behavior during the Florida recount changed me from an Independent of several decades to permanent Republican. I concluded that the only principle Democrats stood for was winning by whatever means. I changed from an Independent because didn't want to waste my vote against Democrats.
Both parties want to change rules according to their convenience, but it seems to me that Democrats are the most egregious violators.
I note that the article does not allow comments.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in politics has a tendency to believe that the other guys started it and our stalwart lads have shown nothing but the straight bat. But reasonable people at least make some effort to scan the evidence and make sure that there aren't really obvious counterexamples. In the case of filibusters, Senate rules, Supreme Court nominees, even a highly biased observer might notice that there have been incidents in which the Republicans at least claimed there was obstruction and unfairness. And politely considered it and noted it, just for appearances sake.
It's actually a fairly simple exercise. But we are dealing with fanatics.
The next Republican president [...] will run the entire federal government by himself.
ReplyDeletePlease don't throw me in the briar patch!
"Please don't throw me in the briar patch!"
ReplyDeleteHeh!
........."I've got you this time, Brer Rabbit," said Brer Fox, jumping up and shaking off the dust. "You've sassed me for the very last time. Now I wonder what I should do with you?"
ReplyDeleteBrer Rabbit's eyes got very large. "Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you," mused Brer Fox. "No, that's too much trouble. Maybe I'll hang you instead."
"Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"If I'm going to hang you, I'll need some string," said Brer Fox. "And I don't have any string handy. But the stream's not far away, so maybe I'll drown you instead."
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"The briar patch, eh?" said Brer Fox. "What a wonderful idea! You'll be torn into little pieces!"
Grabbing up the tar-covered rabbit, Brer Fox swung him around and around and then flung him head over heels into the briar patch. Brer Rabbit let out such a scream as he fell that all of Brer Fox's fur stood straight up. Brer Rabbit fell into the briar bushes with a crash and a mighty thump. Then there was silence.
Brer Fox cocked one ear toward the briar patch, listening for whimpers of pain. But he heard nothing. Brer Fox cocked the other ear toward the briar patch, listening for Brer Rabbit's death rattle. He heard nothing.
Then Brer Fox heard someone calling his name. He turned around and looked up the hill. Brer Rabbit was sitting on a log combing the tar out of his fur with a wood chip and looking smug.
"I was bred and born in the briar patch, Brer Fox," he called. "Born and bred in the briar patch.".......
One of Mrs Missisiippi's favorite stories: She had good taste
-Mississippi