Wednesday, March 10, 2010

That's Senator Useful Idiot to You, Pal

Lindsey Graham gets schooled again:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to revive the bipartisan Gang of 14 — this time for health care reform, not judicial nominees.

But most of his moderate Democratic colleagues aren’t rushing to R.S.V.P.

Graham said Tuesday that a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators could rescue the Senate from an institutional disaster brought on by the use of the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation to finish the health care bill.

“Many Republicans who were ready to pull the trigger on the nuclear option on judges are now glad they didn’t,” Graham said. “This place would have ceased to function as we know it. If they do health care through reconciliation, it will be the same consequence. So if you are a moderate Democrat out there looking for a way to deliver health care reforms and not pull the nuclear trigger, there is a model to look at.”
Uh, Senator, aside from you and perhaps John McCain, who are these Republicans that are glad they didn't pull the trigger? You put false institutional comity over actually trying to accomplish something. And who cares about Miguel Estrada or any of the other people you threw under the bus, anyway? They don't matter as long as you have institutional comity.

And your good bipartisan friends, the ones you trusted? The ones you reach across the aisle to work with? They ain't buyin' this time:

But some of the moderates who would usually be the first to join such a push scoffed at the idea.

“Who are they going to get?” asked Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a member of the original Gang of 14. “It is not the same as it was before.”
Of course not. Ben Nelson has no incentive to do anything -- he and 59 of his friends pushed the bill past you, Sen. Graham, and Nelson got a pile of money to boot, too. And oddly, Sen. Nelson didn't respect you in the morning, either. But why should he be different from the rest of us?

And one other thing -- the Democrats won't necessarily have to use reconciliation anyway. The Senate bill has passed and is now under consideration in the House. Right now Nancy Pelosi is using her wiles (such as they are) and whatever muscle she has available to get enough vulnerable Democrats in the House to put their necks in the guillotine. If she succeeds, the House will pass the bill, President Obama will sign it and reconciliation becomes a dead letter.

It could be worse -- as of yet, Lindsay Lohan has not filed suit to enjoin Senator Graham over using her name, but we're watching that front as well.

4 comments:

W.B. Picklesworth said...

His impulse isn't a terrible one, but there are no gentlemen left on the other side of the aisle. It's all scorched earth now, screw precedent, screw the future.

But it still leaves the question, do you punch back harder? Or do you try to honorably maintain the institutions and procedures as they have been?

Mr. D said...

But it still leaves the question, do you punch back harder? Or do you try to honorably maintain the institutions and procedures as they have been?

Well, based on my one experience of this sort -- a fight with a bully in the 5th grade -- the best way to stop someone from punching you is to punch them back so hard that they are no longer able to punch you. After I did that, he found someone else to pick on.

The Left in this country is always the aggressor, because they want to change things and aren't averse to using force to do it. You can never stop them from wanting to force the issue, but you can stop them from succeeding. We went through this 16 years ago with Clinton and it bought us (and the country) some time. Eternal vigilance, it's called.

W.B. Picklesworth said...

Say, for example, no mercy on leftist judicial nominees? Viciously attack their character? Vote "No" even if they're qualified?

How about calling them un-American? Would it be alright to point out that they hate children? And that they patronize minorities?

I am happy to get along with people who are liberals; they have some ideals that are quite correct and even laudable. But when the rubber meets the road, liberalism is a destructive and hateful ideology.

Anonymous said...

There is a distinct difference between a purist ideal liberal, and a typical democratic politician. The Purist is used by the Senator so that the Senator can get paid off, and pay off his constinuencies. It's not the ideals, its' the corruption. There can be no cooperation, and there should never have been any cooperation. Ask Bush I and Bush II where cooperatio got them. In their eyes Bipartisanship means caving in to their ideas, and then having them use it against you. If the republicans fall for that once again, they get what they deserve, and we get socialism.