Talking Point

11 Comments

1. 

   Phil Perspective on February 3, 2010 at 2:33 pm

   That’s a talking point I’d like to see repeated so often that even the most disengaged voter hears it and understands it.

   What took ’em so damn long?!?!?

2. 

   Second Nature on February 3, 2010 at 3:02 pm

   Good plan.  But the most disengaged voter has no idea what cloture means.

   • 

     BooMan on February 3, 2010 at 3:15 pm

     well, use ‘filibuster.’  

     But most people don’t really understand that either.

     • 

       RandyH on February 3, 2010 at 3:21 pm

       They do understand what “obstruction” means and the line “Republicans produced 20 years of obstruction in a single year.” could be a powerful line for ads and such.

     • 

       DaveW on February 3, 2010 at 5:58 pm

       “Put up roadblocks to reform.” “Blocked another vote for reform.” “Brought the Senate to a halt because they thought the majority had the votes to win.” “Used parliamentary tricks to shut down the vote.” “Paralyzed the Senate with parliamentary shenanigans.”

       I’m sure Dems could find plenty of good ways to say it. The problem is, that would expose the whole sham that the Senate has become. Their most effective move would be to launch an all-out campaign to end the filibuster, period, and explain why. But that would be too “populist”.

3. 

   seabe on February 3, 2010 at 3:21 pm

   http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/more-obama-sarcasm-please

   At the Republican caucus, they held up — they said, we’ve got a plan; it’s going to provide everybody coverage at no cost. And I said, well, if that were true, why wouldn’t I take it? My wife Michelle thinks I’m stubborn sometimes, but I’m not that stubborn. Okay, let me think. I could have everybody get health care coverage that’s high quality, and it’s free, which I’ll bet is really popular. But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to go through the pain of really working through this hard process in Congress, getting yelled at and called a socialist, because I just — that’s how I roll. I’m a glutton for punishment. (Laughter.)

   No, look, if this were easy and simple, first of all, somebody would have done it before. Seven Presidents have failed at this; seven Congresses have failed at this. If this was simple, it would have already been done. It’s not.

   More of this, and more of this:

   http://thehill.com/homenews/house/79421-budget-chief-attacks-ryans-spending-plan

   • 

     RandyH on February 3, 2010 at 3:33 pm

     I saw that this morning. I was watching it live on MSNBC and they stayed with it until he turned on them and all of the other cable channels, telling people to turn off the cable channels because they’re all nasty who’s-up, who’s-down politics all the time. Just turn it off and go out and talk to real people like yourselves. After that, like clockwork, David Schuster came on with a couple of political hacks to yell at each other about what Obama’s saying instead of letting us watch for ourselves. I switched to CNN and caught the rest of Obama’s Q&A session.

4. 

   Oscar In Dallas on February 3, 2010 at 3:25 pm

   It may take a few minutes for the significance of that to sink in (today’s GOP surpassed the efforts of the 50’s and 60’s racists) but it will hit some eventually.

5. 

   60th Street on February 3, 2010 at 4:32 pm

   …that reptilian ConservaDem threats to filibuster with Republicans are also intolerable obstructionist tactics.

   It’s one thing for Democrats to vote against in a final vote, within the acceptable margin, but not to help Republicans obstruct the Democratic agenda by threatening to delay, filibuster or kill legislature.

6. 

   Real History Lisa on February 3, 2010 at 5:14 pm

   CNN) – President Barack Obama Wednesday accused Republicans of packing “20 years of obstruction into one.” Speaking to Senate Democrats, he declared, “You had to cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and ’60s combined.”

   Fact Check: Were there more cloture votes in the Senate last year than in all of the 1950s and 1960s combined?

   • A vote to end filibuster debate is called a cloture vote. From the 81st Congress (1949-1950) through the 91st Congress (1969-1970), there were a total of 30 votes on cloture. There were no more than seven cloture votes in any single session during those years.
   • Starting with the 92nd Congress (1971-72), cloture votes became more frequent. Part of that can be explained by the fact that the Senate changed the required majority in 1975, making it easier to induce cloture.
   • The 110th Congress (2007-2008) is the record-holder so far: There were 112 votes on cloture during that two-year period.
   • So far, the 11th Congress (2009-2010) has held 41 cloture votes, 39 of them last year, two more this year.

   Bottom Line: President Obama is correct. [Emphasis added.] There were 39 cloture votes last year, nine more than the combined total for 1949-1970.

   FYI if anyone doubts that fact – send them to CNN’s fact checker re this here: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/03/cnn-fact-check-senate-cloture-votes/?fbid=BOe7LvhxMG
   v

7. 

   watchbird on February 4, 2010 at 1:57 am

   Amen