Sunday, March 13, 2005

 

Nuking The Cooling Saucer

Two excellent articles have just been published (both in New York publications) on the plans of Senate Republicans to use "the nuclear option," changing the Senate's rules in effect for nearly the last 90 years that have required the votes of 60 Senators, rather than a simple majority, to override a filibuster. But first, an explanation of the second part of the title:

Most popular histories of Congress include an exchange, very likely apocryphal, in which Washington and Jefferson discuss the difference between the House and the Senate. “Why did you pour that coffee into your saucer?” Washington asks. “To cool it,” Jefferson replies. “Even so,” Washington says, “we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.” For Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat and a senator since 1973, the Senate remains a place where “you can always slow things down and make sure that a minority gets a voice,” he said recently. And, he added, “the chance to filibuster”—using extended debate in order to block legislation—“is what makes the difference between this body and the other one.”

I'm hopeful that there are at least six GOP Senators who understand what is truly at stake here, and will draw back from the precipice before jumping. They know, full well, that Bush is the most dictatorial President in our history. They should also realize that if the Senate is willing to destroy itself as a deliberative institution just to accomodate Bush, there'll be no stopping him. Chief Justice John Ashcroft? Nuking Social Security, and then gutting the federal budget? War with Syria and Iran? The little lunatic igoramus will become fucking Pol Pot in cowboy boots.

posted by Michael 8:02 PM