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I've watched/listened to almost every minute since 10:30am. It's been an impressive, impassioned account of where we are, how we got here and the need to invest in this country rather than give tax breaks to millionaires. It's been inspiring and cathartic and heroic. But I think it will serve more as a bracket in history marking the end of the New Deal rather than a speech that will change its course.
As I travel across the Granite State on this campaign, there seems to be one thing the people of New Hampshire can agree on - Washington is broken. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. You've seen exactly what I see down there: a system that is simply not serving the needs of our middle-class families and small businesses any more. A system that has become rigged against the people it's supposed to support.
That's why yesterday I announced my proposals to change the Senate rules to increase accountability and break the partisan gridlock in Washington. Right now, Washington Republicans in the Senate are blocking a vote on a critical bill that will provide tax cuts and increased credit to New Hampshire's small businesses. My plan calls for an end to anonymous holds and gradually lowering the threshold needed to end debate and hold an up or down vote on Senate bills.
The usual band of ConservaDems, with the usual strain of obvious self-interest, and with the inevitable depressing of the base, will probably kill the possibility of filibuster reform.
Reform supported by Paul Hodes and introduced by Jeanne Shaheen.
When we don't define our differences with the other side, we lose. Why is this so hard to comprehend?
If you didn't expect newly minted Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown to bust the filibuster on the jobs bill, you can likely blame the media for perpetuating myths and false impressions.
In any event, that's what Brown, a veteran Massachusetts legislator and local public official did, to the consternation of many.
The Moderate Voice reports:
All eyes remain on .....Massachusetts' newest Republican Senator Scott Brown. Yesterday was "hope springs eternal" day for Democrats, and "your worst nightmare" for Republicans: Brown crossed over increasingly cement-like party lines to vote with Democrats to break a GOP filibuster on the new scaled down jobs bill.
Roadblock Republicanism is hard work. Even Judd needs a friend to help him now and again in preventing majority-supported legislation from going forward. Here he is trying to convince Rep. Mike Castle to run for Senate for Biden's old seat:
"I just said, 'You've got to run,' " said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.
Even in the minority, Republicans have a greater voice in the Senate than in the House because the Senate is smaller and senators can filibuster, Gregg explained.
They can even filibuster SCOTUS nominees, right, Senator?
Back in May 2005, Gregg took this view of filibusters: "From a constitutional perspective, judicial nominations have the right to an up or down vote in the Senate, and the filibustering of these nominations is inconsistent with over 200 years of tradition in the Senate and distorts our system of checks and balances."
Fringe thought from a shrill blogger on a Friday night:
Maybe if Democratic Senators Bayh, Byrd, Casey, Landrieu, Levin, Lincoln, Nelson, and Pryor behaved more like Jon Stewart last night and less like country clubbers worried about losing their membership, their constituents would have more health care and less CO2 in their lives.
And then - surprise! - the people who elected them would like them more and send them back to the club.
Right now, Judd Gregg is claiming he is recusing himself from voting on the stimulus because he will be joining the Cabinet. This recusal is a de facto 'no' vote on cloture. This is clearly and obviously against the interests expressed by the White House of a bill passing in a timely manner.
Obama and Lynch need to make it very clear to Judd Gregg - if he wants the Commerce spot, and he wants his deal honored, he needs to resign his Senate seat NOW and let Bonnie Newman vote. If she votes against cloture and hence against the stimulus, let her begin building that record. If she votes for cloture and for the American recovery effort, let her begin building that record instead.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - an Obama administration working with a constantly filibustering minority-GOP senate will get some things done. But an Obama administration working with a 60-seat Democratic, filibuster-proof majority will literally change the course of American history.
Considering what Bush has done to this country in the past eight years, and indeed the ideological ditch we have been thrown in since Ronald Reagan, we're going to darn well need those 60 seats to get the "change we need."
And now it looks like that elusive dream, fading away over the summer, could, with luck and momentum, be a reality, thanks to startlingly hopeful polling out of Kentucky and North Carolina (sadly, Maine seems out of reach; so bummed about that one). When you add that to the substantial lead Obama is opening up nationally and in battleground state polls as we get closer to election day, there is reason to hope. Charlie Cook (h/t MyDD):
It seems farfetched that Republicans would lose Stevens, Sununu, Dole, Coleman, Smith, and Wicker, in addition to relinquishing the even more endangered open seats in Virginia, New Mexico, and Colorado, but a net loss of nine seats -- or eight if they topple Landrieu and keep Collins and McConnell in office -- is no longer implausible. In 2006, the odds against a six-seat Republican loss were equally strong, but it happened.
History shows, moreover, that close Senate races tend to break in the same direction, as they did two years ago.
The bottom line is that things have gotten worse for Senate Republicans over the past few weeks, so much worse that a magnitude of losses that seemed impossible just a few months ago now seems entirely possible.
In a change election, it's reasonable to expect voters who are undecided at the very end to break for the challenger.
So it is not hyperbole to state that what we do to convince voters in the next month or so that Sununu represents the Bush era and does not deserve another term will essentially define the scope and strength of the coming Obama administration.
On Friday, John E. Sununu, along with twelve other fringers to the right of George Bush, tried to prevent an up or down vote on the housing bill.
On Sunday, John E. Sununu laments that the big bad Democrat party isn't letting him get an up or down vote on his energy amendments (none of which involve closing the ENRON Loophole, of course). I guess those are the initiatives he didn't think of during the other four years his party was in power to prevent the crisis we're in now.
In other news, the Senate Kabuki Players will be performing additional scenes from the Upperdown Follies throughout the summer at a location near you.
So, I just got wind of something interesting from Team Dodd. Read on - you will not want to miss this.
Senator Dodd, as you may know, will be mounting a filibuster tomorrow against a bill that would give the telecoms immunity from prosecution for helping the President spy on you and me without a warrant, and in violation of the Constitution.
He's going to need reading material - and that's where you come in. Chris Dodd is looking for suggestions for what to read on the Senate floor concerning this issue, or even a personal comment from you (and you have my word that this is not some silly list-building exercise, but a genuine call for commentary to be read by the Senator as he stands for the rule of law).
So if protecting the the rule of law means something to you, if a basic right to privacy means something to you, and if keeping the executive branch in check means something to you, I hope you will leave a comment in the thread below about the issue of retroactive immunity (I'll make sure Team Dodd sees it), and perhaps it will find its way onto the Senate floor.
I could say that this is another brilliant move by Dodd and his campaign to leverage the internet, but I would sound like a broken record doing that (disclosure: I'm a Dodd supporter). Instead I'll just say: Now here's a Senator from Connecticut we can be proud of.
So, our dear Senator Sununu, doing his "in loco parentis" thing, decided that he preferred talking to the end of time to actually voting on a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize themselves in their relationships with the organized capitalists.
Strictly speaking, Sununu voted with the other member of the Senate who think they know better than their constituents what's good for them.
For some months now Republicans have been claiming that the legislation would do away with the secret ballot when employees vote whether or not they wish to be unionized--a concern that struck me as just a bit strange. Then it occurred to me that secrecy seems to have become super important to Republicans now that the secret (proprietary is the technical term) code in the electronic ballot counters makes it possible to rig elections without anyone being the wiser.
Besides, secrecy is what shields our ruling elite from the intrusive snooping of the hoi poloi.
Getting to know what the people we elect to public office are up to is what makes us equal. And the elite certainly can't put up with that.
Not that there's necessarily any wrong-doing, mind you. Secrecy is good all by itself.
