It's a very interesting question, well phrased by mcjoan of Dailykos.com:
First, the final filibuster willExactly. Can Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) count to 41? (It takes 41 votes to sustain a filibuster in the United States Senate).
not be the final successful filibuster,
according to this thinking, because
the Republicans will trigger the
nuclear option. Which undermines
their entire point. What they are
saying is that the filibuster is
meaningless because even a
"successful" one will be nuked.
Save it for Stevens's retirement?
When the Republicans will override
it anyway? What sense does that make?
This argument in fact undermines the
thinking of those who applauded the
Gang of 14 compromise. Better to
have fought the fight then if in fact
you believed the actual use of the
filibuster would be ineffective.
Why "save" the filibuster now
when it will be a toothless tiger
anyway? If we can not use and
defend a filibuster against Alito,
who will we be able to use it
against? So it really comes down
to the political ramifications of
filibustering Alito. I would argue
that there is no better time to risk
this fight than now, with this nominee.
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