The Democrats on filibustering judges

[DinoDoc]

Damn you MarkG! You've infected another one with that insipid cartoon!

[Dinner]

Originally posted by lord of the mark OTOH if he fails on Social Security, etc that would be a bigger deal.

Bush's plan to phase out Social Security is now polling around 30% and Democrats have rightly taken a stand against this instead they'd like to see the $90k cap removed so the richest 5% no longer get away scot free on most of their earnings. That act alone will keep Social Security in the black until 2075 according to the CBO. Even without any change we're good until 2042 or so if we average growth of around 1% if the growth rate is higher then we can go much, much, much longer. Just about everyone believes the growth rate will be higher then 1%.

Republican law makers are going to be extremely reluctant to risk their jobs on such an unpopular issue which Democrats are going to be sure to hammer them with in the next election. We can safely say that Bush's plan to eliminate Social Security is now dead.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Yeah, what ever. This will bring to a total of 211 out of 213 judges that Bush will have gotten through. I'm just not seeing how they "sabotaged the Bush presidency". This is just more arrogance from some of the most arrogant people on Earth.

I'm not so sure. It really all depends on what happens next and how Bush reacts to any further Democrat filibusters.

[Ramo]

Frist and the nomination - I frankly dont see how this hurts him with the right. He fought as long as could, adopted some pretty extreme positions and rhetoric, and then was undercut by McCain and the moderates. How can the right blame him for that? OTOH some of them prefer Brownback anyway. But then I dont think W was their first choice. Theyre quite capable of being swayed by their semi-insider leaders.

The right percieves the events as a failure of Frist's leadership. If you go to Free Republic's message boards, you'd see a lot of "if he can't reign in the RINO's, how can he lead the country?" type comments. The "establishment" generally determines the Republican nominee, but very public losses dim a politician's currency in the GOP establishment. Power above all seems to be what they value. And Frist has been continuously played by Reid.

Frist and the leadership - Again, I cant see him losing it. He was pressured by the right, and the WH, onto a limb. I think the GOP Senators know that.

I think that they also know that if Frist stood up to said pressure in the beginning, he wouldn't have been so constrained in the end. By going along with Dobson et al. in the beginning, he gave up control of events.

[Ned]

I agree with the posters that both Frist and McCain are severely damaged wrt '08 in the Republican base. They expected victory, not defeat, in this battle. What they got was a compromise that appears to give the Dems what they want, the right to filibuster judicial appointments deemed "beyond the pale."

But the silver lining here is that the people "deciding" who are beyond the pale may be the Democrat "moderates."

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Ramo
This is a marginal victory for the Democratic agenda, and a devastating loss for the Presidential ambitions of both Frist and the moderate Senate Republicans (especially, McCain).

BwaaHaa Haaa Ramo agrees with me.

Go take a bath, I'm sure you feel all kinds of dirty inside.

[MrFun]

great comic you posted, Oerdin

[Ned]

Dick Morris made the observation that these 14 "centrist" senators are now effectively in control of the senate. What they decide as a group decides the senate. He just wondered whether they realize what they have?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
I certainly hope they try to take revenge on those moderate Republicans. If they're too stupid to see that if moderate GoOPers didn't hold those seats, Democrats would, then fine by me.

Or more conservative Republicans.

[Drake Tungsten]

I love how you can't come up with an argument.

Why would I want to argue with lunacy?

[Dinner]

That's right Drake. Don't deal with the issues just call people names and then run away and hide. You're good at it.

[Drake Tungsten]

You're the one calling people names. I'm just laughing at you, which is the proper response...

Republicans are all extremists because they don't agree with me!!!