Question about republican leadership...
 

Can anyone explain to me, why the mere THREAT of a filibuster causes the republican l"leadership" to buckle and cave?
I thought the beauty of the filibuster was the physical demands it made on those performing it. Why not make the dems actually do a good ole fashioned, reading from the phone book, filibuster?

Why should I go thur a filibuster session and burn myself out when I can let everyone else know that you are trying to filibuster a bill and the obstruction to progress without suffering thru the thing?

I believe it is because of institutional memory. Senators like to think themselves important and above petty wrangling that goes on in the House. The Repos know that they can change the rules to make every vote a strict majority and win everytime.

The Repos also know that nothing is forever and that sometime in the future the Demos will be in charge. The Demos could then undo everything the Repos have done with a series of simple majority votes rescinding budgets and laws, etc. It would make the Senate as chaotic as the House.

So for the Repos to change the rules would end-up being a future disaster in the institutional sense.

I think it's a crock of shyte. All that buddy-buddy crap is just another way to screw-over voters by removing the hard lines of partisanship. The people benefit from partisanship in the Legislative Branch. It forces information to the public through public debate.

B

I really miss the public debates. Issues are no longer decided by debate; but by private poles, spin, and propaganda.

Private Festivus poles?