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#277 Feb 16 2015 at 8:34 AM Rating: Good
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#278 Feb 17 2015 at 7:29 AM Rating: Default
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So, it looks like President Obama's immigration action is temporarily blocked. I wonder if this will affect the potential shutdown over DHS?
#279 Feb 17 2015 at 7:46 AM Rating: Good
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Almalieque wrote:
So, it looks like President Obama's immigration action is temporarily blocked. I wonder if this will affect the potential shutdown over DHS?

Taking a bullet for Boehner?
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#280 Feb 17 2015 at 8:36 AM Rating: Excellent
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Almalieque wrote:
So, it looks like President Obama's immigration action is temporarily blocked. I wonder if this will affect the potential shutdown over DHS?

Probably not. The side wanting to defund will say it's necessary in case liberal activist judges overturn the order. The side wanting the funding will say that there's no reason not to fund since either the actions will prove legal (and thus deserve funding) or they won't (and thus don't need riders excluding funding).
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#281 Feb 17 2015 at 5:39 PM Rating: Decent
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Jophiel wrote:
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If you're only looking at this from an extremely short term point of view, I suppose you have a point. The act of eliminating it for anything at all establishes that it can be eliminated. Period.

Well, duh. Like spilling some water out of a glass establishes that water can be spilled out of a glass. Before Reid eliminated the filibuster for most confirmations, exactly 100% of people interested in the topic knew that the filibuster could be eliminated. Afterwards, that number jumped to 100%.


And yet, every single time the subject of actually doing it came up, the reason not to was "if we do this, we establish the precedent of doing this, and it'll be used against us". This was precisely why the GOP didn't eliminate the filibuster for appointments 10 years ago. The exact freaking argument. No one (other than you apparently) is confused about how Reid doing this to get a few appointments through affects the filibuster as a whole.

What's bizarre is that you're totally willing to slam the GOP for something they *might* do, when your own party already did it. Unless you just don't understand that the distinction between eliminating the filibuster for appointments and eliminating it for any other kind of vote in the Senate is legally irrelevant. The same process exists for both. It's only a PR distinction to say "we're not going to use it for appointments, but we'll still use it for budgets and laws".

Reid broke the filibuster. The least you could do is accept that fact.

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Out of the list of reasons why it would be stupid, that's very very far down the list.

No, it's number one on the list. You cute little political virgin, you.


Only if you are exceptionally naive and have no ability to look down the road at all. What a given filibuster is used for is irrelevant next to whether it's accepted practice by both parties and therefore not violated. Once one party says "Nah. We'll just ignore it when we want", that trust is broken. That's what was stupid.
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#282 Feb 17 2015 at 6:08 PM Rating: Excellent
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I didn't "slam" the GOP for potentially ending the filibuster at all. Hell, McConnell can do so tomorrow with my blessing. I said it would be a dumb decision completely for political reasons and thus it was dumb for House Republicans to demand it (but that I assumed McConnell was smarter than that). I get that you're all worked up and stuff but try reading for content instead of for misunderstood things to whine about.
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Unless you just don't understand that the distinction between eliminating the filibuster for appointments and eliminating it for any other kind of vote in the Senate is legally irrelevant.

"Legally irrelevant"? Are you just talking to sound like you know something now? There's no "legal relevance" to the filibuster at all. It's not law, it's a Senate rule. If McConnell wants to set a rule saying filibusters will only be used for SCotUS appointments and he has the votes to pass the rule change, he can do it. If he wants a 75 vote rule to end debate on a bill and he has the votes to pass it, he can. If he wants to only filibuster Senators asking for bathroom breaks and he has the votes to pass the rule change, he can. There's no "legal relevance" to the filibuster -- it's just internal rules the chamber sets up for how it'll operate. Do you seriously have no idea how the Senate rules work? I mean, if you don't that's fine I guess since most people probably don't but then most people don't embarrass themselves by saying it's "legally irrelevant" either.

Edited, Feb 17th 2015 6:10pm by Jophiel
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#283 Feb 18 2015 at 8:33 AM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
Once one party says "Nah. We'll just ignore it when we want", that trust is broken. That's what was stupid.
Alabama Supreme Court?
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#284 Feb 18 2015 at 10:01 AM Rating: Excellent
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Senator John Cornyn wants concealed weapons to be portable to places where they're currently illegal.

Because it's okay to impose your morality across state lines, as long as you're not a damn liberal.

Edit: holy hell, I screwed that dog right and proper.

Edit: also, d**n and h**l are filtered but "screwed the dog" is not. Yay!


Edited, Feb 18th 2015 8:08am by Samira
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#285 Feb 18 2015 at 10:09 AM Rating: Excellent
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Also: Bill Clinton is now ranked 8th best President, ahead of Reagan (11th). Obama is way down at the bottom, in the silty company of Pierce, Buchanan and Andrew Johnson.
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#286 Feb 18 2015 at 10:10 AM Rating: Excellent
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So much for "state's rights", eh?

This, incidentally, is the same goal as the health insurance solution of "sell insurance across state lines" -- what it really means is "allow the states with the least amount of insurance regulation to set the bar for the entire nation"
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#287 Feb 18 2015 at 10:30 AM Rating: Good
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State's rights are a liberal scam.
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#288 Feb 18 2015 at 11:01 AM Rating: Excellent
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Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and the Civil War was all about state's rights. So obviously liberal Democrats are the ones most interested in state's rights.

Edited, Feb 18th 2015 11:02am by Jophiel
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#289 Feb 18 2015 at 1:42 PM Rating: Good
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Civil War

That's War of Northern Aggression to the likes of you, yankee.
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#290 Feb 18 2015 at 2:00 PM Rating: Good
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South would have totally won if the North just sold them more bullets.
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#291 Feb 18 2015 at 7:31 PM Rating: Decent
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Samira wrote:
Senator John Cornyn wants concealed weapons to be portable to places where they're currently illegal.

Because it's okay to impose your morality across state lines, as long as you're not a **** liberal.


Lol. It's a brilliant play on the precedent set with same se.x marriage. Kinda funny really. Doubly so given NY is the state complaining.


You do see the comparison, right? I mean, if a concealed carry permit is granted in Michigan, that permit ought to be respected in New York. Otherwise... Shenanigans!
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#292 Feb 18 2015 at 7:42 PM Rating: Decent
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And while I'm at it:

Jophiel wrote:
I didn't "slam" the GOP for potentially ending the filibuster at all.


What you said was:

Jophiel wrote:
Yes, eliminating the filibuster would be one of the dumber things McConnell could do but I suspect that, with his Methuselah-many years in the Senate, he already knows that.


So maybe not a "slam", but you defended the action Reid actually took, while calling the same action "dumb" if McConnell did it. Which I found kinda strange.

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I said it would be a dumb decision completely for political reasons and thus it was dumb for House Republicans to demand it (but that I assumed McConnell was smarter than that).


And? It was dumb when Reid did it. I agree it would be dumb, I just find it funny that you seem unable to admit it was just as dumb when your own party actually did the thing you're saying would be dumb if the GOP did it.


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"Legally irrelevant"?


Yes. Legally irrelevant. Is there like an echo in here?

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There's no "legal relevance" to the filibuster at all. It's not law, it's a Senate rule.


Uh. Yeah. That's why I spent half of the post you were responding to explaining this very thing, and how it's really just an outgrowth of a gentleman's agreement to keep those rules in place. Why would you think otherwise? I was saying that there's nothing legally binding to prevent further erosion of the filibuster rule. What kept it from being broken was an agreement by both parties not to break it.

That's an agreement that has been broken by Reid.

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Do you seriously have no idea how the Senate rules work?


Um... Maybe actually read my post next time?
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#293 Feb 18 2015 at 7:48 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
So maybe not a "slam", but you defended the action Reid actually took, while calling the same action "dumb" if McConnell did it. Which I found kinda strange.

Because you're illiterate? I mean, the same thread also says:
I previously wrote:
Although, yes, eliminating it during his tenure would have been dumb since he still wouldn't have gotten Senate legislation past the House. Eliminating it for confirming appointments wasn't dumb since the Senate could act alone.

Is that really hard to understand? Reid's choice won him some political fights. You can have your own opinions on whether or not it was worth it, but you can't deny the simple fact that Reid's change got him results. McConnell changing the filibuster rules on legislation would win him absolutely nothing since Obama would just veto the same legislation. Plus, should Democrats retake the Senate in 2016, he'd be kind of stuck.

I understand that you see everything as a partisan gotcha but this is just basic logic here. Reid's actions got him gains, McConnell's would get him zero gains. Thus, it would be dumb for McConnell to take the House GOP's bait and change the rules. It was not "just as dumb" for Reid to do the same (plus, there's the basic fact that filibustering legislation is more useful overall and the calculus on who'll have the White House in 2017 but we'll save that until you're ready for the Remedial Politics 102 class)
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I just find it funny that you seem unable to admit it was just as dumb when your own party actually did the thing you're saying would be dumb if the GOP did it.

Probably because I keep abreast on what's happening in Washington, I guess.

Edited, Feb 18th 2015 7:51pm by Jophiel
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#294 Feb 18 2015 at 8:20 PM Rating: Decent
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Jophiel wrote:
gbaji wrote:
So maybe not a "slam", but you defended the action Reid actually took, while calling the same action "dumb" if McConnell did it. Which I found kinda strange.

Because you're illiterate? I mean, the same thread also says:
I previously wrote:
Although, yes, eliminating it during his tenure would have been dumb since he still wouldn't have gotten Senate legislation past the House. Eliminating it for confirming appointments wasn't dumb since the Senate could act alone.


And the same thread also says:

Me previously wrote:
If you're only looking at this from an extremely short term point of view, I suppose you have a point. The act of eliminating it for anything at all establishes that it can be eliminated. Period. What you did it for really doesn't matter. The point is that Reid established that precedent.


Are you illiterate? The change made and precedent set is far more broad reaching than the handful of appointments that were gained. Reid acted stupidly for an incredibly short term gain.

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Is that really hard to understand? Reid's choice won him some political fights. You can have your own opinions on whether or not it was worth it, but you can't deny the simple fact that Reid's change got him results. McConnell changing the filibuster rules on legislation would win him absolutely nothing since Obama would just veto the same legislation. Plus, should Democrats retake the Senate in 2016, he'd be kind of stuck.


Again, as I stated earlier, you're missing the forest for one very small tree.

I'm not disagreeing that it would be dumb for McConnell to change the filibuster rules. My point is that it was also dumb when Reid did it. The dumbness is not changed because he won some incredibly minor political battles. The dumbness of what he did so completely overshadows that benefit. It's like saying that it would be dumb to hit yourself in the head with a hammer unless there was a fly on the side of your head that you'd kill in the process. Um... It's still really really really dumb.

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Reid's actions got him gains, McConnell's would get him zero gains.


Reid's gains didn't come close to making up for the cost though. That's the point you seem to be missing.


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It was not "just as dumb" for Reid to do the same...


Um... Ok. I'll grant that there was some incredibly tiny fraction less dumb when Reid did it. But still dumb. Really really dumb. Your inability to acknowledge this is what I find amusing. Is it really so hard to just say "Yeah. Reid should not have done that, because the appointments gained don't nearly make up for the precedent he set by doing that". Really? It was a bad idea, taken for a really bad reason.


I'll also point out (again) that we're comparing a hypothetical on one side against an actual decision that was made on the other. McConnell is not going to change the filibuster rules, even if a couple of house Republicans make headlines for themselves by asking for it. He's not going to do so for two reasons:

1. It would set an even worse precedent than that set by Reid, effectively taking the next step in the slippery slope, and losing the high ground on the issue.

2. It would just result in a presidential veto. Which is kind of a wash given that there's political value in forcing the president to veto it, but there's just as much value in forcing the Dems to filibuster. So... Not really much of a point actually.


Reason number 1 is about 100,000 times more important than reason 2 for the GOP. Even if the GOP held the white house right now, he still wouldn't change the rules. Because the whole issue with filibusters and vetoes is about public perception and support. The reason the Dems changed the rules is because the public was largely behind the GOP on the issues (and appointments) they filibustered. The Dems failed to bring public opinion to bear to force the GOP to relent, and thus resorted to changing the rules to get what they wanted in the face of public opinion (sounds like a pattern the left has fallen into).

The GOP has no need to change the rules because we've largely got public support on our side. When we pass something and the Dems filibuster it, we get to go to the public and say that it's the Dems preventing something from being passed, and this actually will hurt the Dems more than the GOP (kinda like the whole shutdown thing your party tried). That's the key issue here. Those tools work when the public supports them. They exist largely because 100% of issues and positions held by the voters can never align perfectly with political parties. So just because the public voted in a majority to one party or the other does not mean that the public agrees with every platform position of that party. The opposing party can then use filibuster and/or veto to prevent those unpopular things from passing and can do so without harming their own political prospects. If they use it to block stuff the public wants, then it hurts them politically. If they use it to block stuff the public does not want, it helps them.


This is why the GOP doesn't need to change or break the rules, but your party does. The Dem agenda has been on the wrong side of public support for at least the last 15 years. And the more your guys manipulate rules in order to get what you want even when the public opposes it, the worse it'll get.

Edited, Feb 18th 2015 6:23pm by gbaji
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#295 Feb 18 2015 at 8:29 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
Are you illiterate? The change made and precedent set is far more broad reaching than the handful of appointments that were gained. Reid acted stupidly for an incredibly short term gain.

First off, I again LOVE it when you try to use the same line on me. Absolutely darling. Lets me know I got under your skin Smiley: smile

Secondly, I disagree with your assessment. I think you are, in fact, all sorts of wrong. But it's an opinion and you're welcome to have it regardless of my my valuation of it. Despite all that, we again return to the fact that Reid got results, McConnell would not. I understand that what you really want is to whine about Reid but I guess I'm not all that interested in it.

You realize, of course, that I'm opposed to the procedural filibuster today same as I was a year ago, same as I was five years ago, right? I mean, if McConnell wanted to end it tomorrow, I'd tell him to go for it. I understand its usefulness as a political tool but that's all it is. It's not a keystone of governance; it wasn't part of the early Congress and if we really "needed" it, then you should be on the GOP to amend the Constitution to say that 51% votes are needed for control of the Senate but 60% votes are needed to pass legislation. As it stands, requiring 60% to pass anything (as has been the custom these past years) is a subversion of how the government was actually meant to be run. But if you're that hot to trot about it, let's engrave it into stone rather than whining and throwing a fit about "gentlemen's agreements".

Edited, Feb 18th 2015 10:29pm by Jophiel
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#296 Feb 18 2015 at 8:42 PM Rating: Decent
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Jophiel wrote:
Despite all that, we again return to the fact that Reid got results...


Yeah. He lost the Senate. There's a political consequence for bending/breaking the rules to get around the public will. As I said earlier, this has become a pattern on the Left. Obamacare. Budget showdowns/shutdowns. And appointments. In each case, when public outrage over GOP opposition didn't materialize and force the GOP to give in, they just changed the rules in order to get what they wanted anyway.

There is a public component to these tools. Somewhere along the line it seems as though the Dems have gotten so full of themselves that they've forgotten this.

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I understand that what you really want is to whine about Reid...


If that's really what you think, then you're totally missing the point I was making. Wow.

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#297 Feb 18 2015 at 8:45 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
Yeah. He lost the Senate.

Which had zero to do with filibuster rules.
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#298 Feb 18 2015 at 10:48 PM Rating: Good
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Is this thread about Battletoads yet?
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#299 Feb 19 2015 at 12:30 AM Rating: Good
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Friar Bijou wrote:
Is this thread about Battletoads yet?
GameStop still hasn't gotten in that copy of Battletoads that I pre-ordered. Smiley: frown
#300 Feb 19 2015 at 2:49 AM Rating: Default
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Gbaji wrote:
Yeah. He lost the Senate.
I love how losing only matters when a Democrat loses, but not Republicans. After losing the Senate, in a historic low turn out for a mid-term, Democrats are expected to stand by and follow the wills of the people. The people have spoken! Yet, that didn't apply in 2012 when Romney lost.
#301 Feb 19 2015 at 5:07 AM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
Samira wrote:
Senator John Cornyn wants concealed weapons to be portable to places where they're currently illegal.

Because it's okay to impose your morality across state lines, as long as you're not a **** liberal.


Lol. It's a brilliant play on the precedent set with same se.x marriage. Kinda funny really. Doubly so given NY is the state complaining.


You do see the comparison, right? I mean, if a concealed carry permit is granted in Michigan, that permit ought to be respected in New York. Otherwise... Shenanigans!
Cause both lead to death for innocent bystanders, right?
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