If Harry Reid Allows the Silent Filibuster, It’s All on Him

Source: Firedoglake

There are 51 Senators who will vote for a public option, something 77% of the country wants. It would win a majority in a floor vote. We were told that we needed 60 votes in the Caucus so we’d have a filibuster-proof majority — so that the GOP would never block a bill from getting to the floor. The only reason not to put the HELP Committee public option in the Senate bill is because Joe Lieberman and other “ConservaDems” are conducting a silent filibuster — they won’t say it publicly but they’ll say privately that they will vote with the GOP to filibuster the bill.

That means the Democratic caucus will now filibuster itself.

I only have one thing to say: Don’t even fucking think about it. We were told we had to suck up all manner of corporate whoredom for that 60-vote filibuster-proof majority — that’s what we supposedly got in exchange for letting Lieberman have his committee chair, right? Except now I guess he gets all the power and the perks just because you like him, with none of the responsibility to stick with the caucus on procedural votes.

Remember this golden oldie from January 2006?


How about this one:



Lieberman, Bingaman, Harkin and Lincoln all gave George Bush the cloture vote he wanted on Alito. They let him have an up-or-down vote on the floor. And then they took their “principled” vote against him.

I guess they’d offer George Bush’s cretin judges a courtesy they won’t offer to Americans on something 77% of the country wants. So, I’ll offer a slight edit of Glenn Greenwald from yesterday:

2004-2006: “You have to wait until we win a Congressional majority in the 2006 midterms.”

2006-2008: “You have to wait until we win the White House in 2008.”

January-May, 2009: “You have to wait until we have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.”

Currently: “You have to wait until until every member of the Democratic caucus agrees on something.”

Either you’re going to enforce caucus discipline or you don’t have a party. You have, instead, a collection of self-interested narcissists, each one with the ability to derail any legislation they don’t like. Every Senator who derives their political power from membership in the caucus is thereby granted the power to torpedo any piece of legislation from coming to a vote, with no consequences. It’s an outrage.

Every time some clusterfuck like this happens, just enough Senators duck their heads and distribute the blame so that the vulnerable ones don’t have to pay the price. There’s a back room deal to apportion responsibility. They trade off being the bad guy — and they think people are easily fooled as with the Alito cloture vote, when sonorous speeches were given about the careful deliberation that led to a “no” vote on the floor. Anyone paying even remedial attention knew that the cloture vote was the only one that mattered.

So if Reid won’t enforce caucus discipline, if as Majority Leader he now says it’s acceptable to use the “60 vote” threshold to water down the bill, he has to wear it. No matter how he votes personally. No matter how much the White House makes a fetish of bipartisanship and courts Olympia Snowe. No matter what cover anyone else tries to give him.

...

If the Senate combined bill allows a filibuster from members of the Democratic caucus and Reid doesn’t strip them of their committee chairmanships, I pledge to do everything in my power to defeat Harry Reid — and his son — in 2010.

If the final bill that emerges from conference does not include a public option because of the threat of a filibuster, silent or otherwise, I pledge to do everything in my power to defeat Harry Reid — and his son — in 2010.

Because health care is a human right, not something to be subject to Rahm Emanuel’s back room deals, Joe Lieberman’s vanity or the Reid family’s political ambitions.

More here: http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/13/if-harry-reid-allows-the-silent-filibuster-its-all-on-him/

Democrats will actively cheer on his defeat at the hands of anyone, to remove him permanently from the leadership.

but I'll submit an Op Ed piece to whatever Nevada paper that will print it.

Everything Rahm does has the approval of the man who made him the first hire the day after the election.

That's not schizophrenia, it's paranoia ...

... ours.

I think approval WITH the public option is a done deal. I also think we'll have de facto single-payer by 2020.

Harry Reid? He's not Satan, but he's also not in a long-term position.

--d!

That's less likely than what I think is happening, which is that the public Obama is against the Obama that's working behind the scenes. Not because I'm a hater, but because I know he's a politician who is trying to please his donors and his constituency at the same time, when their needs directly conflict.

mickey mouse versions called public option. A strong public option with the government running it to provide competition to the greedy insurance industry isn't IMHO a done deal. And how do you ever get to a single payer in 2020? Where do you come up with that.

What i see as happening, the insurance industry will allow their Congress to pass a bill with a weak public option. One that lets them off the hook and spoils the water for everyone. The public will hate it and blame Pres Obama. No reform will occur. If you dont know, the health insurance industry can spend tens of billions on getting their way. How much can us serfs scrap up to fight them.