Setting aside that this ultimatum has come, for the time being, from the Daily Kos it’s extremely plausible that this type of ultimatum or something similar will come from the Party itself:
That’s the bottom line.Seat Al Franken and give him his committee assignments now, or we’ll block a new organizing resolution that would let you reassign Specter’s previously Republican committee seats to one of your own.
Until a new organizing resolution is adopted, Specter’s committee seats (Appropriations, Judiciary, Veterans’ Affairs, Environment & Public Works, Special Aging) are locked in. He’ll be caucusing and (sometimes, anyway) voting as a Democrat, but will be occupying Republican seats.
Actually, with the exception of Appropriations and the Judiciary I’d say: “you can have those seats” as Specter is at best unreliable either way on many of these issues.
Again, leaving aside the source, This should be an eyeopening reminder that Democrats in particular and liberals in general are all about gaining power and manipulating their way towards that goal by any means necessary rather than putting the good of the county first!
H/T to Aaron Gardner for the source material
Steve Maley
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
If that's the dance that they want to call...
Moe Lane (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 2:58PM EST (link)…fine. I think that they’ve forgotten just how badly the Jeffords defection rankled.
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I agree Moe...
Steve Foley (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 3:19PM EST (link)…this may be nothing more than an initial “happy dance” but we’ll be watching for this type of strong arming coming from the Majority Party.
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its an intresting thought
dave_in_atl (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 3:04PM EST (link)While the kos kids are usually quite delusional this actually seems fairly plausible. If I actually thought democrats had a spine I could see it happening
Why Can't The Dems Do Both?
IJB Tuesday, April 28th at 4:01PM EST (link)There is nothing about their recent actions (e.g. putting Health Care through via reconciliation) that would indicate that the Dems will stop at anything.
All they need to do now is get Snowe or Collins (preferably both) to switch, and they can seat Franken all on their own.
Then they can just do whatever they want.
(What’s really scary? – If the Dems can get up to 67, they can literally *expel* every single Republican representative out of the Senate chamber. I really don’t put it past them…)
If they get to 67 they can end the fillibuster forever
civil truth (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 4:11PM EST (link)…and otherwise amend the Senate Rules as they see fit. Not to mention pass Constitutional amendments and override any veto.
But I don’t think they’d expel on a widespread basis – better to have the veneer of democracy by leaving Republicans around as window dressing, while they can do whatever they’d want behind the scenes.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
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Two can play that game
Finrod (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 4:52PM EST (link)A whole lot of business in the Senate is done by unanimous consent. All it takes is one sufficiently annoyed Republican Senator and the Senate won’t be doing anything for quite a while.
The GOP response should be: no, we’re not going to seat Franken, and yes, you will reorganize the committees, or else the Senate is closed for business.
Let’s get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?
Well then they update the unanimous consent rules
bk (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 4:54PM EST (link)they can't keep doing stuff like that though
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 4:58PM EST (link)There is an end to how far they can go with rewriting rules in the House and Senate. They already have the reputation on the right as tyrannical and dishonest. That reputation is starting to bleed toward the mushy middle, and if they continue to ram stuff through the congress undebated, it will end up being what kills them in 2010.
And I mean, kills them bad.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
If the GOP complains, the press will say we're whiny obstructionists
bk (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 5:39PM EST (link)So we lose no matter what it seems.
The press is going to shine us in a bad light no matter what.
Danielle Davis (ocleverone) (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 8:12PM EST (link)Now is the time for them to forget what the press thinks and do the right things.
To me, “consensus” seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects … There are still people in my party who believe in “consensus” politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors … I mean it. — Margaret Thatcher
EPU, I Hope you're right, but
johnCV (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 5:43PM EST (link)I’m starting to doubt it. I fear what we are seeing is the perfecting of 40 years of patient and stealthy work by the Leftists.
They have undermined the Traditional roots by demonizing Judeo/Christian principles if not the reliions themselves (often abetted by quislings withingthe hierarchy itself) and supplanted it with a faith-based ‘science’ called Environmentalism.
They have been able to re-write history so that the Founders are now regarded just above pedophiles for being slave owners, racists and oppressors of minorities. Where America is the problem with the world, not the solution. And Liberty has been replaced with a notion of freedom from consequences and a birthright entitlement ‘any damn thing I want’.
They have been able to elevate hedonism and narcissim to supplant classical beauty and honor. We live in a world now where celebrity has become more important than accomplishment. Galour trumps intellegence and information has been replaced with opinion.
The electorate now swims in this toxic broth with none of the protections afforded to past generations such as a moral compass, a sense of propriety and an educatoin that allowed a person to evaluate a proposition grounded from an accurate and honest historical postion.
My greatest fear is the cretins with that can’t even get thier hats on straight, -or the soccer moms who think obama is a great orator, or those still waiting for the governement to pay thier mortgage, and electric bills – are being allowed to pull the levers of power until the Left has accreted enough power to dispense with the election charade and just step up and claim soveriegnty over the populace.
Are there enough men left oin this Nation to stand up? Right now I don’t see it. I just hope I’m looking in the wrong places.
I can't guarantee I'm right
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Tuesday, April 28th at 6:00PM EST (link)I think I am , though. Your characterization of the last 40 years is right on. I just think that the body corporate still retains enough love of both freedom and fair play that they will revolt at this once it has crossed over into silliness.
They’re overplaying their hand. Yes, they’ve been laying groundwork for years for a de facto takeover, but IMO they’ve been drinking the house whiskey too much, because they think that because we’ll let them finesse a takeover, we’ll also allow a blatant power grab.
And I think they are wrong. But I rely on two things which are not bankable guarantees. First, that Repubs can get the word out in sufficient measure, over the noise of the majority media who will try to block it. Second, that the heart of the American citizen still recoils against tyranny.
Unfortunately this is not an intellectual exercise. We shall see, one way or the other.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
Unfortunately for us, ACORN read, and heeded, Machiavelli
smagar (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 8:10AM EST (link)They looked at the processes for election in the states, and realized how valuable it would be to have ACORN sympathizers serving as state Secretaries of State. (Secretaries of State usually run voting operations and set policy).
Hence, ACORN’s Secretaries of State project. It succeeded in putting Jan Brunner in office in Ohio…and Mark Ritchie in Minnesota.
Actually, come to think of it, maybe ACORN didn’t read a book. Maybe they watched a movie instead…Gangs of New York. In that movie, Boss Tweed made a memorable statement about elections: It’s not important how many people vote; what’s most important is who counts the votes.
ACORN realized this. They identified the centers of gravity in our voting processess and targeted them.
Now, ACORN has its first Senator—Al Franken
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)