Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, pot.


So Harry Reid is calling on President-elect Trump to rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon as chief strategist to his future administration.

The Nevada Democrat listed off a number of hate crimes that have taken place since last Tuesday's election and accused the president-elect of choosing a "champion of white supremacists" to have the most powerful position in Trump's administration.

Bannon's appointment as "chief strategist and senior counselor" sparked outrage among Democrats and left some Republicans struggling to defend the decision to give the former head of Breitbart News a top post in the new White House. The site has been a hub for the "alt-right" movement that has been associated with white nationalism and anti-Semitism.

"If Trump is serious about seeking unity, the first thing he should do is rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon...As long as a champion of racial division is a step away from the Oval Office it will be impossible to take Trump's efforts to heal the nation seriously," Reid said.

There's more at the link.

Er . . . Harry, old chap . . . remember this?

November 21, 2013 -- Senate Democrats eased the way for swift approval of President Barack Obama's current and future nominees on Thursday, voting unilaterally to overturn decades of Senate precedent and undermine Republicans' ability to block final votes.

The 52-48 vote to undercut venerable filibuster rules on presidential appointees capped more than a decade of struggle in which presidents of both parties complained about delays in confirming appointees, particularly to the federal courts.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who launched the move, accused Republicans of "unbelievable, unprecedented obstruction" of Obama's selections to fill court vacancies and other offices.

"It's time to change the Senate, before this institution becomes obsolete," he said.

His Republican counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, accused Democrats of exercising raw power and said they would regret it when political fortunes switched.

Again, more at the link.

Harry, Harry, Harry . . . when you ride roughshod over more than a century of precedent to impose your will on political opponents, why are you surprised when they return the favor?  I sincerely hope Mr. Trump sticks to his guns (and Mr. Bannon), and that the Republicans in the Senate abolish the filibuster completely.  It's not a statutory provision, after all, and I can find no constitutional grounds for its existence.  Get rid of it, clear the backlog of appointees to Federal office, and in future let the majority party do its thing.  That's called 'democracy'.

Peter

6 comments:

Angus McThag said...

I looked up the history of the filibuster once. A long time ago, so this opinion is formed on those old memories.

In the context of a legislative body that was one half of a bicameral system where one house was chosen by the people (The House) and the other by the states (The Senate) it made a degree of sense.

The 17th Amendment changed how senators were elected to be the same as The House.

The filibuster stops making sense from then on.

WL Emery said...

My thanks to Angus McThag for his timely contribution.

TheOtherSean said...

There used to be a House filibuster, as well, IIRC exercised by representatives simply declining to state that they were present, and thus depriving that body of a quorum. The one day Speaker Thomas Reed became exceptionally frustrated with the obstructionist Democratic minority, and abolished it. How did he do so, you may wonder, when he lacked a quorum? He simply made statements of fact that the members were present, forcing the Democrats to either accept that declaration.... or object in such a way that their presence went on the record. :)

bart simpsonson said...

The reaction to Trump's selection of Bannon shows us what is in store for us US, as the Deplorables who put The Mighty Trumpster in the White House. EVERY. SINGLE. CABINET NOMINATION. EVERY. PRESIDENTIAL. STATMENT. EVERY. PRESIDENTIAL. UTTERANCE.

It will ALL be deplored, by every Democrat, every media outlet, whether print or electronic. By every butt-hurt rioter. Not to mention the legacyless Barack Hussein Obama.

Also not to mention, the entire Republican Establishment.

And more.

Rolf said...

There are uses for the filibuster. I think they should drop it for the next year, and be really, REALLY clear: "See what it's like, bonehead? If you ever gain power again, and side-step it, it goes away FOREVER when we are in power. Tit for tat. respect it, and respect us, or get tromped on when we are in power. Got it?"

Anonymous said...

The best way I know of to get Trump (or me, for that matter) to do something is to tell him that he can't do it.
- Charlie