Greg Sargent:
Norman Ornstein, an observer of Congress for decades, literally wrote the book on GOP obstructionism. So I asked him what he thought of the disappointing filibuster reform deal reached today between Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. His reply:
“To avoid disruption right now, they opted for greater efficiency in the operation of the Senate, rather than providing a much higher hurdle for obstructionism. They are going to make it easier to move things, but they are not extracting a price for bad behavior right now.”
This is exactly the problem. Today’s reforms do nothing to discourage, or extract any price whatsoever for, precisely the type of unprecedented and destructive party-wide obstructionism that launched the push for reform in the first place.
This is why I’m so angry with Harry Reid and the Dinosaur Democrats in the Senate who are too timid to do a fucking thing to reform the way they do things in the upper chamber.
The GOP has learned over and over again, going all the way back to fucking Watergate though Iran Contra to stealing the 2000 election to torture to the endless fucking list of abuses of power by the Bush/Cheney administration that they can do literally any goddamn thing they want, and there will never, ever, be any consequences for it (except maybe a primary challenge from an even crazier right wing lunatic because they weren’t crazy enough.)
The GOP House and much of the Senate behave like spoiled bratty children, and not even the Democrats who have the fucking majority -- increased after the last election -- will be the adults in the room. It's sickening.
This pathetic excuse I keep hearing that it sets a bad precedent and would be used against a Democratic minority is infuriating.
Does anyone really believe that the very same GOP that wants to rig the electoral college and gerrymandered their way into a House majority despite clearly losing the popular vote, would never use the “so-called nuclear option” to change the rules of the Senate at their first opportunity?!
This is why Democrats consistently lose: they don’t even bring a knife to a gunfight; they show up to the gunfight and hope that saying “please” will stop the bullets.