McConnell: In the Senate it routinely takes sixty votes to do almost everything
By Heather Monday Feb 02, 2009 11:30am
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On Face the Nation Mitch McConnell says the GOP is going to require sixty votes for the stimulus bill to pass, but doesn't want to call it a filibuster. Since the Democrats cave in and never actually make them filibuster anything, his response is not surprising.
Schieffer: If it came to it, would Republicans filibuster this bill if it was not to your liking?
McConnell: Well that term is thrown around a lot. In the Senate it routinely takes sixty votes to do almost everything. It doesn't necessarily mean you're trying to slow a bill down. But a super-majority is required for virtually everything in the Senate and certainly for something close to a trillion dollars for a spending bill, it will.
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Hey Mitch, if it walks like a filibuster and quacks like a filibuster, it must be a filibuster.
Though it is funny (or maybe it's just Alzheimer’s on their part) but I seem to remember Republicans crying about so many things deserving "up or down" votes when they were in the majority.
You don't say! Color me shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!
.. .keep doing your utmost to make sure that you GOPer douchebags lose another half-dozen or so senate seats in 2010. By all means, Senator Bugnuts, have at it.
What a nasty piece of work McConnell is. That sleasy bastard would do anything to bring this country to it's knees.
I am so fu*king sick of this game playing shit. I mean our country is going down the tubes at warp speed and this asshole is still making this like a game or something. Instead of being a complete jerk about everything, how about all of them trying to find out what is best for all of us right now. There is no scoreboard, this is real life and either we all win or we all continue to lose.
this cho-mo looking asshole has built up his bank account for years, ya think he cares about working people, not in this life time.
The asshole Reslugs actually still think they have some power.
Pelosi.
Met with them. Changed for them. Got nothing in return.
Obama.
Met with them. Appointed some of them. Changed for them. Got nothing in return.
Reid.
Will meet with them. Will change for them. Will get nothing in return.
I rest my case.
the dems are still in shock! would tell the Dems THEY WON in Nov.
Really. If this stimulus package is going to help, pass it over the objections of the GOP. Let them whine themselves into irrelevancy and let the results speak for themselves.
If it's a load of b.s., then rework it, but the same caveat applies - either the Republicans actually work with you on achieving solutions, or they can STFU and go away. The country can neither afford nor tolerate this kind of nonsense anymore.
Nagahapun...
They gotta make Obama cave.
He will, sooner or later.
So, if YOU don't have a solid 60 votes, Mitch, and WE don't have a solid 60 votes, NOTHING GETS DONE.
Am I reading you right? Your Hair Club for Demagogues is going to hold the country hostage because you're all whiny-pants over losing seats in two elections running?
You really think you're going to win some back by playing this asinine game and going on talk shows to say, 'neener-neener'?
Mitch and his cohorts had better be careful. The American people are looking for solutions right now and are in no mood for bs party bickering. The republican party already stinks to high heaven, is he sure he wants to make the shit smell worse?
... definitely needs to ask, "What's that smell?"
McConnell and his ilk are desperately trying to keep the lid clamped down and convince everyone they can make it rain.
Or, for you physics-minded types, they opened the box, discovered that the cat is dead, and taped the lid shut again.
"they opened the box, discovered that the cat is dead, and taped the lid shut again."
They have plenty of duct tape left over since their days in charge of Homeland Security.
...is going to be pissed.
There are some improvements that can be done to the bill. That is fine. However, the Republicans want to filibuster just to be obstructionists. It is time for the useless Democrats in Congress to make the Republicans stand up and tell the American people why they want the country to fail. Obama should be on his bully pulpit every day and blame the Republicans.
went all Unity '08 on us.
Ain't gonna work, kid.
... has to be made, but I'm glad the Republicans are putting their foot in it.
but he'd better count his fingers afterward.
...where is isn't unity or bipartisanship or reaching out, it's just plain old-fashioned complicity.
... doesn't need to be negative. He still needs to use the bully pulpit, but he should keep the focus on doing what needs to be done to restore the economy, etc.
Let the Republi-cant's torpedo their own ship.
Regardless of the flaws in the stimulus package, President Obama needs to have the bill passed if he is to be taken seriously. He is in the honeymoon part of his Presidency, something like two thirds of the electorate support the bill, he is personally incredibly popular, his political position will likely never be stronger for at least another two years.
If he cannot push through legislation like this, he may face a backlash in 2010 and he loses the political credit needed to push through other bills. On the other hand, if the Republicans filibuster and it fails, Republican Senators lose a tremendous amount of political clout. President Obama can then defy the next filibuster and the one after that and the GOP becomes increasingly less relevant.
since you want to call a spade a spade, why don't you just confess that you're right about that 60... being that the republican party if so irrelivant, devoid of new ideas, and so swiftly on your way towards becoming a regional party, your only other option is to gainsay or obstruct anything that doesn't originate from the gop.
you remind me of cartman from south park who has been known to say when things don't go exactly his way - "screw you guys i'm going home"
Whaaaaaaaaaa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWVnPlUCrf8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIr-N_iPR2Y
this is the appropriate version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd7lanc60rU&fe...
this is how thw republicans, in their present incarnation being led by rush limbaugh, strike me as they careen into panic mode upon the realization that they lost and are has-beens
There's no more important business than getting this country back on its feet from 30 years of conservative abuse. The Dems MUST force the Repugs to fillibuster. Let the American people see them obstructing progress while the country crashes and burns. Within two days, the public opinion would force them to cave. Plus, our favorite two female Republicans -- their party's last true moderates -- would flip. MAKE EM PULL ALL-NIGHTERS!
They won't play again on the National Stage for another 4 years. They'll be fine at home, where live the 60 MILLION folks who voted AGAINST Prez.O...This'll play fine in Cowpatch, KY, and Bayour Dumphuque LA...USer pre-university schooling has adapted memory right out of the average murkin's range of cognitive skills. Memory is not a good thing in consumers. Gives 'em something with which to compare current claims in advertizing.
in the House, the governor of NH should agree to appoint a Republican to replace Judd Gregg, then appoint a Democrat instead. Then go on the bakka-bakka shows and say, "Well I wanted to appoint a Republican, but I just don't feel that is in the people's best interest."
Slight correction: Gregg is in the Senate, not the House.
Back when the Democrats were the minority...
Would one of these spineless faux journalists please show some balls and call him on it?
it is perfectly legal to filibuster (obviously). and if the GOP is serious in its desire to see the bail fail then, by all means, they should filibuster it.
bet the GOP is glad they didn't go the route of the 'nuclear option' when they were in "control" of the congres...
... for the Democrats to start throwing around the term 'NUCLEAR OPTION'. That will fix that.
republicans pick their front-runner for 2012,
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components...
Ruben Navarrette at CNN has an incredibly dishonest, sleazy and sexist column that theorizes that Nancy Pelosi's support for (the now removed) birth control spending within the Stimulus Package was part of her plan to murder the next generation of minority babies as part of the upcoming Pelosi led Race War. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!
Here is the link:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/navarr...
What does a media Wingnut have to do, or say, to lose their job?
That would be enough for me, were I running CNN
Are we sure this isn't Michelle Malkin (sp?) writing under another name? Sounds like something she might come up with
William F. Buckley tried the same crap about 5 years ago. He claimed Planned Parenthood was a conspiracy to keep whites in the majority by encouraging minorities to have abortions.
Planned Parenthood had some pretty strange views.
...Buckley was correct. That is what the parent organization that eventually became planned parenthood was all about. See chapter 3 of :
http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm
Ruben Navarette is very right-wing on cultural issues. He fancies himself a pundit for Latinos, for what it's worth.
He was crying about liberals dissing Alberto Gonzalez.
torture = enhanced interrogation
withdrawal of troops from Iraq = "cut and run"
fillabuster = "..virtually everything needs a 60 vote majority...blah, blah, blah"
Honest to God.....we let them get away with this bull shit, and the media is absolutely pathetic at it. "that term is thrown around a lot..." No kidding? How about cause that's ALL you f*cktards do now. ANYTHING to put the skids on the government with a Democratic majority...even if it means flushing your country down the shitter.
What a pathetic pig!
war = peace
capitalism = freedom
yay, i love word GOP-disinfo word association games!!!!
Mitch has big, dirty money behind him and a long trail of slime in his wake, he also made C.R.E.W.s list of most corrupt. I find it suspect that this piece of shit managed to keep his seat, although I don't have anything to back it up.( anyone know or suspect anything?)
Their is something in his service records he is covering up as well. He should be making little rocks out of big ones, also he makes my skin crawl just looking at him. CEO,citizens,eyes,open
The filibuster moves in the Senate have always seemed rather lopsided. For some reason, Democrats have always pushed the bipartisan ideas further as well. President Obama has certainly fulfilled his promises to work in such a bipartisan manner, but the Republicans still won't budge. I am glad that he has followed through with his promises--and I know it is right that he continues to do so--but I almost wish the Democrats would demand less GOP votes. It's truly not going to help any of the President's bipartisan efforts or the stimulus package if they give in now. They need to keep their poker faces on.
Wasn't there something called the "nuclear option" that the Repubs were throwing around when they had the majority? But let's file away this bit of tape for use if/when the Repubs ever find themselves again with the majority in the Senate.
Reeeeally?
I say...go pound sand up your ass, Mitch McConnell.
You don't like the vote...fillibuster.
Whatever happened to your democratic mantra of "straight up and down vote".
Mitch McConnell...another closeted tin horn of the religious right.
I wonder if instead of getting 60 votes to override - if the rule is changed having the opposition come up with 40 to be able to filibuster - see if that would change things - they would at least have to go on record as obstructionists and not waste as much time for legislators actually trying to do something constructive (like Feingold). From what I understand it takes 2/3 to change the senate rules and the nuclear option only applies to judicial nominations and such not legislation. Correct me if I am wrong though.
Small pop states have too much power in the senate as it is and the cloture votes exacerbate it even more IMveryHO. In two years maybe the dems will have the 2/3 needed to correct this ridiculous affront to democracy.
There going to do whatever they can to fillbuster it, and are trying to excuse there actions before hand.
This is the kind of stuff GOP are great at Propaganda.
Stop being shellshocked Democrats and fight back already. Working with them has got you nothing and will continue to do so.
"UP OR DOWN VOTE"
"UP OR DOWN VOTE"
"UP OR DOWN VOTE"
That is the only thing that I ever heard from Republicans from 2003 to 2006 when they had both houses of Congress and the White House.
Here's an example:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editoria...
Back then Democrats trying to require a supermajority (60 votes) meant that they were "blocking" final votes.
the gop is still missing in action after 8 long years of gwb.
Did they really think nominating Mikey Steele would boost the party.
The conservative movement is over and no Sarah Palin around can't bring it back.
The Republican Party is done with the racism they produce.
Little Trig
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