NO NUKES (in the US senate)

Ultimately this seems like kind of a wash to me; everyone gets to keep their powder dry for the big fight when Rehnquist retires.

"We came together and we did the unexpected," Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman
"We have lifted ourselves above politics." Former KKK henchman Byrd

Does anyone take these two seriously anymore?

I fully expect the Dems to continue coughin' up furballs when it comes to the Supreme Court.

Whoever it was on the Republican side who coined the term "nuclear option," you should forever be banned from coining clever phrases. This has always struck me as an idiotic phrase on every level. First, it concedes that changing the rules would be radical and dangerous, which plays perfectly into the Democrats' hands. Second, it's factually untrue. Changing the rules wouldn't have blown up the Senate. The Democrats promised reaction to the rule change was the explosive part. If China announces they will launch a nuclear strike against the United States unless we ban usage of the phrase "Peking duck" in favor of "Beijing duck" we wouldn't be exercising the "nuclear option" by using the phrase "Peking duck." The Chinese would be when/if they retaliated unreasonably. But, no, the Republicans had to create a phrase which by its very definition made them sound unreasonable.

And lastly, the phrase simply smacks of that typical, annoying, testosterone drenched attitude of Hill Republicans. Noooo...we can't use a phrase like "restore comity" or "reform debate" for we are Klingons! We must talk the manly talk. We must show off our big swinging nuclear options.

Yeah, you'd think, dude.

well, it isn't as if bushco has totally foresworn using orwellian terms when it suits them.

i think that this compromise was probably the best that could be accomplished, given (a) the dems have only 45 seats in the senate; and (b) they could count on only 4 senators to stop the drive to kill the judicial filibuster.

m.

well, i mean, yeah i probably have no clue like this person too...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0525/p03s01-uspo.html

some of the other potential candidates on this thread just strike me as total wing nuts. i really can't imagine the success of a senator or governor who has made it his job to ignore his job and instead bend and break every rule possible to please guilt trip blackmailing minority of christian fundamentalists. seriously... Frist is one of my senators and he personally strikes me as someone who would give me shit for wearing jeans to church.

i guess i was under the impression that your average american doesn't want anybody telling them what to believe.

mccain, a gop jackass just the same, is at least a little more down the middle on the important things like overstepping power boundaries. a moderate has the grace to at least give the dissenting minority a bit of bone, especially considering that even the minority that didn't vote for him is still his constituency. they still work for us.

i'm sure you're right that there's other, more gop-popular candidates who might have a better chance of not being a windbag to the mass majority of everybody else. i guess i was just trotting silliness out. we were talkin funny plots and theories. i should know better than to be bothered by being called a fool, especially talking politics... won't be the last time.
m.

Um... you see... I hate to break it to you but there's this guy... and somehow he's President now.

PRESIDENT SANTORUM!!!

aw man, i have to say something stupid at least once a post, just to keep the pickins fresh...

[insert here]
m.

ya fuckin' douche

Especially one who might have a black baby.