GOP Threatens Mass Blockade of Obama's Top Judges (i.e., judicial appointments):
Republicans are threatening a mass blockade of President Barack Obama's three most important judicial nominees ahead of an expected Thursday vote on the first of them.
Backed by House colleagues and GOP attorneys general from around the country, Senate Republican leaders are whipping opposition to advancing the nomination of Patricia Millett -- or anyone else -- for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one notch below the Supreme Court and often has the final word on matters of executive authority.
...John Cornyn accuses Obama of "court-packing." Historically, "court-packing" meant expanding the size of a court in order to appoint a commanding majority; FDR attempted this with the Supreme Court... and failed. Obama is merely appointing vacancies to the DC Circuit that occurred during his term as president... ordinary, run-of-the-mill judicial appointments. Blocking these appointments a priori without regard to their qualifications is interfering with usual constitutional process.
Pick it, John!
Mr. Cornyn, would you accept such behavior from a Democratic Senate if the president were a Republican (I mean, officially)? If your only reason for this obstruction is partisan, you have to expect the next Republican president facing a Democratic Senate to see the same thing happen to his (face it, if the president is Republican, he will be male) nominees. Oh, and your argument about the cost of these judges' salaries... I'll believe you when you start declining your own salary. You talk about wasted money...
McCain Threatens to Hold Yellen Nomination Over Benghazi Details
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Wednesday that he and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) plan to delay the nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve in order to obtain information on the 2012 Benghazi attacks from the Obama administration, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"That's the only way we get their attention," McCain told the Journal. "It's the only way we get any response."
...Yes, you motherfucking bastard, that's because your party has lost two presidential elections in a row... failed even to steal them the way you stole the one before that.
"Get off
my lawn"
Let me quote the celebrated Republican president preceding Mr. Obama: "Elections have consequences." Apparently GOPers believe that is true only if they, not Democrats, win those elections.
To hell with all of you!
Make them stand on the floor of the Senate and talk. Stop all this pretending, and make them put up or shut up. Let people see them making fools of themselves like Ted Cruz, so it can be used in campaign commercials to get rid of them.
ReplyDeleteBryan, the "virtualizing" of the filibuster has to be one of the worst Senate rule changes ever. Such a fake filibuster depends on the goodwill of the political parties involved. Reid should use his opportunity to make two changes to the filibuster: 1) as you say, require actual speaking before the Senate, and 2) limit the number of members who may filibuster (say, three) before cloture becomes automatic. The opportunity to shut down our government, literally as the GOP just did, or practically as any Senator can do, must be removed as a temptation.
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