Oh, here’s a newsflash:
Senate Republicans have a plan to break the Democratic resistance to Donald Trump’s Cabinet: Make their delay tactics as excruciating as possible.
And how is this supposed to work?
…the GOP is preparing to keep the chamber running around the clock if that’s what it takes to speedily confirm Trump’s Cabinet. It’s the kind of retaliatory strategy that would bring all-night sessions, 3 a.m. votes and a long slog through the first months of Trump’s presidency that could sap some of the GOP’s legislative momentum.
Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said the GOP will do “whatever it takes” to get Trump his team as quickly as possible.
They’re going to break the Democrats’ will by pulling all-nighters. Maybe it’s time to invest some of your nest egg in Domino’s or whatever pizzeria is preferred on Capitol Hill.
Anything else?
…the GOP believes that if Democrats pull out their dilatory techniques the pressure will increase on moderate Senate Democrats from Trump-leaning states to buck their party and help Republicans move the nominations along.
I don’t think there are twelve Democratic senators as fearful of their constituents as Joe Manchin. And that’s what it would take to get the 60 votes to stomp on those dilatory techniques.
So, the real weapon here is simply hope.
“It’s harder to keep your side together if you’re losing day after day than if you’re winning day after day,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership. “I just don’t think they’ll be able to stick with it.”
Historically, I’d be inclined to agree with Senator Roy Blunt, but that was before they refused to even hold a hearing for President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
When you combine that with the fact that Donald Trump has the crazy idea that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III will fly with the Democratic base, that the pathologically diseased Ben Carson is a suitable head of Housing and Urban Affairs, that our Treasury Secretary should be a predatory floreclosure maestro, that our Secretary of State should be a Putin-loving oil magnate with no government experience, and that Rick ‘Oops’ Perry should be in charge of our nuclear weapons, I think you’ll see a little more resolve than we’ve see in the past. There are few acceptable nominees, and certainly not the Amway woman they want at Education or the hamburger dude they have in mind for Labor. These picks are so bad, in fact, that the Democrats are seemingly relieved to give up on civilian control of the military and won’t put up a fight about (barely) Ret. Gen. James Mattis taking over control of the Pentagon.
And the Republicans are making it easy to fight because they’re trying to blow off the basics, like actually having these nominees submit to normal vetting.
In the end, the Republicans will probably get all these nominees through and their Supreme Court Justice, too, but it won’t go quickly.
The Republicans’ tactics over the last eight years, and the last year in particular, have assured that.
Exactly how long can the Dems delay cabinet-level nominations? Since the filibuster for this was killed in 2013, I don’t see how any of these bozos are denied confirmation because no Repup will break ranks to stop any of them. Toss in “Dems” like Manchin and Heitkamp who have the greatest probability of defecting thinking it’ll earn em bonus points back home, and all of em will get in.
Unless I’m missing something.
True, during confirmation hearings, the Dems can make every one of them look either corrupt, stoopid or both. But it won’t stop the inevitable which leads me back to, just how long can the Dems delay confirmation?
Don’t underestimate the importance of doing this. Once a negative narrative is established for a presidential appointee, they have less wiggle room to screw up in the job. How long did James Watt and Alberto Gonzales last after getting the job?
“unanimous consent”
The Senate requires this for all procedures. I am sure the Dems can delay a fair amount. They can’t filibuster, but they can make it a requirement to take a vote every time a member wants to use the bathroom, and stuff like that.
I remember Harry Reid doing that.
I’d like to see McConnell, Grassley, Hatch, Shelby, McCain, Crapo, Roberts, Cochran, Inhofe, and Alexander pull all-nighters. Would probably kill that young whippersnapper Rubio — if he bothered to show up for work at all.
I’m not sure Manchin is a vulnerable as folks think. He is well liked in the state and since many here benefit from the ACA, he could be a leader in the fight against gutting it, if approached by Schumer, etc… instead of slagged because he represents the people of the state.
Ridge
He’s vulnerable since party-line voting is getting stronger. He may switch sides, BTW. He’s the most conservative guy out there on the D side.
So what. Is he a dependable vote against cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc…? Yes, as so many in the state use them. Gun “control”? No. He is smart enough to bargain a vote for some cabinet position for concessions elsewhere; just a politics used to be.
The idea of oppose, oppose, oppose is stupid, stupid, stupid. If proposed legislation helps core Democratic constituencies; stand up, do your job and help your constituencies. Fight to make it better legislation. Then go to your district and take the credit.
The whole idea is to GAIN votes and support from the electorate. Allow some things to go through and keep your powder dry for the big fights. You can’t vote NO, if you aren’t in the seat.
R
Generally agree with your perspective. We need more stuff actually voted on. This GOP permanent no thing was very destructive.
I think the absolute opposition to Obama by the GOP Congress and media on all things weakened the nation Internationally and gave rise to Putin putting his fingers in. Such a divided country could not put up much of a fight.
What’s going to happen is when the shit really hits the fan about Trump and the Russians, its going to come from media outside the US, fed by US and Western Intelligence. They will be respected papers or networks and the US media then will have license and the Democrats will pounce.
There is just too much smoke.
R
The woo-woo factor: except for 2013, the winner of VA governor’s races is the opposite of the party in the WH, regardless of the VA results in the prior presidential election.
Expect Gillespie will be the GOP nominee, but will his status as a GOP insider hurt him this time around instead of helping him against Warner as it did in 2014? Or will he be like McAuliffe, a party insider and transplant to VA that lost his first run for political office and comes back to win in his second run?
Sorry — my comment was intended as a response to your second response to seabe.
“Keep your powder dry” just makes me cringe. It reminds me, very painfully, of Tom Daschle and the horrifying first couple years of George W. Bush’s first term.
That was when we learned that “keep your powder dry” means “don’t do anything” — and the silver lining ostensibly is that you get to blame the Republicans for whatever disasters result (which, even then, was so obviously a tactic that never works, ever).
I remember either Daschle or someone else in the Senate smugly announced, “Well, it’s Bush’s economy now” (after the budget passed)…like, sure, they got everything they wanted and are going to destroy the lives of millions of Americans, but we can say “I told you so.”
So what should Democratic Congressmembers do if/when absolutely everything that this Congress produces is extremely radical right wing budgeting and lawmaking? Because that’s what’s likely to be produced. Trump, Ryan and McConnell are not offering bipartisan rhetoric or plans.
Your pronouncement here puts the onus on the Democrats to be the “responsible” party. How should Democratic Party Senators treat these completely unacceptable set of Cabinet nominees, for example?
It’s time for a strategy that meets the moment. If it’s appropriate to be the Party of No, then I’ll organize to make the Democratic Caucuses be that.
From your Joe Mabchin link:
I think that’s a wrong interpretation. I think half the state’s Democrats voted against Hillary Clinton. The distinction is important for the future.
An improvement for HRC from the primary.
In his best performance, Farrell came in second place in Mingo County, beating Hillary Clinton by 113 votes. He lost to Bernie Sanders who won every county in the state.
Wow! Just Wow! Losing to a nobody. Must have been the Russians, huh?
Technically two nobodies (and one of those nobodies wasn’t even a Democrat) according to the MSM and Clintonites. But she beat that nobody in KY and TN.
Sanders is/was a US Senator. I can’t find out anything about the other guy other than he’s the son of a judge. My guess is he’s a local attorney. A nobody.
If WV had the “none of the above option” as NV does it would probably have done as well as that “other guy.” Or perhaps in WV that “other guy” wasn’t quite a nobody.
If we’re honest most Senators and almost all House members are nobodies outside their home districts unless they’re elevated above that status by one or more factions. Either positively because they’re approved of or negatively because they’re disapproved of. The ordinary voter struggles to identify the VP and couldn’t name the House and Senate leaders if their lives depended on it.
We’ve set up a system that give IA and NH voters the power to turn nobodies into legitimate contenders. With one caveat, the nobody has to be from out of state and being from a neighboring state gets discounted. Hence, Sanders near win in IA counted for more than his mega-win in NH. IA made Carter and Harkin’s primary win in IA was ignored. Number two in IA was uncommitted. That threw it to NH — where Tsongas was #1 and Clinton #2. So, Clinton was the winner.
IA, NH, and SC clear the field if there are more than two candidates. It’s only been since 2008 that the SC primary and NV caucuses have followed IA and NH and been separate and before primaries and caucuses in other states. Similar to the 2000 GOP calendar – AK (caucus), IA (caucus), NH, DE, SC. AK and IA made it a Bush-Forbes race. NH turned it into a Bush-McCain race. DE and SC made Bush the nominee.
Winning IA was hugely important for Mitt in ’12 and Hillary in ’16, but for different reasons. NH for Mitt would be discounted as a neighbor state and Hillary was projected to lose in NH (although a Sanders’ win could be discounted). We know that the IA GOP fudged (miscounted) the ’12 results (revealed after it no longer mattered). It’s both easier and more difficult for the IA DP to fudge the results. We’ll never know what would have happened if Sanders’ had won IA.
This was my experience in the state.
R
I suspect the number is very much like the numbers of Democrats in the Florida Panhandle who vote GOP. They just haven’t changed their Party ID – but I rather doubt they have voted Democratic very much.
Trump won West Virginia by 41 points. A national Democrat isn’t for the most part going to win there.
My guess is defending entitlements is popular, and he will do that.
Expecting anything beyond that is unrealistic.
For “12” read “8” . (Math, how does it work?)
The fight is actually already over, but democrats dont realize it.
These are the few last jabs before the knockout. It’s gonna be a bad one too. Might even kill the contender.
OT but important
Paul Ryan’s office is conducting a phone poll, hoping to hear overwhelming opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Here’s how you can participate:
Call (202) 225-0600….
Press 2 to weigh in on the issue. You’ll hear a recording about the bill to repeal it, then Press 1 to support continuing the Affordable Healthcare Act. It takes less than 2 minutes!
Just wondering — is there any actual requirement to hold hearings?
Can the Republicans just call for a vote on all the cabinet nominees, en mass?
Remember, “normal” rode out of town a long time ago, so anything is possible.
Committee chairmen are jealous of their privileges.
OT:
Tom Perriello Jumps Into VA Gov Race
Tom is exactly the kind of person I was talking about when I discussed Jason Kander. If I was in VA, the choice is obvious: Perriello is better on the issues and a stronger candidate.
Perriello was a Charlottesville professor when he won my congressional district in the 04 Obama rout. He definitely did not reflect the constituents of most of his Va district, but won on black Democratic votes in Danville, Martinsville, and the white liberals around UVa region.
Later redrawing of the district has split Martinsville and Danville.
His progressive leanings did not help him in re-election without Obama coat tails 2 yrs later.
Va governors are one 4yr term only so they really don’t have much time to effect policy in a lasting way. Warner and Kaine come close as they went back to back and were basically the same. McAuliffe has made little impression outside the NoVa area except piss off the GOP legislature on minor things.
At current political feelings, any Democratic candidate will have to really harness the NoVa vote plus get it out in other key state areas. I don’t see Perriello doing that with a blatant “progressive” agenda without a changing national mood.
Since it is single term, even with a GOP legislature, a Republican Gov. would not be world ending as Va Republicans tend (with exceptions) to be pragmatic conservatives. I don’t see them going off the deep end like in NC.
R
Uh GOP would get to control redistricting if they win, so it’s immensely important this race is won. That district was R+5 and he barely lost in 2010.
The GOP already controls redistricting as the Legislature draws the lines, until a Fed court makes them redraw one or two. Governor can veto, but that is his only input and a chancy move. There is a nonbinding advisory board that no one listens to.
Perriello might be a good Governor, but state “progressive” tendencies he could build on are slim in Va. NC had a 50+ yr and longer tradition until the red dirt farmers rose up; mainly as a reaction to being ignored by the eggheads in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and now bankers in Charlotte. Put the fear of God into those no good, atheistic, homosexual, intellectual hippies. Its the revenge of Jessie Helms’ ghost.
Perriello, with a GOP legislature would have to bend a lot to get a little accomplished. Maybe he has persuasive skills he hasn’t shown yet. I would have to see the platform he is going to run on to guess at the possibility of success.
R
Depends on if by Progressive you mean he runs on economic issues or on who can use which bathroom.
For those like me that have the barest of working knowledge about VA governor’s election, the excerpt and link were only minimally informative. The 2016 Democratic presidential primary results would indicate that a “progressive” gubernatorial candidate would not be favored. While I knew that McAuliffe (a long-time Clinton buddy) barely won against an extreme Republican, I’ve also been told for the past two years that McAuliffe is a popular governor and had been far more liberal than Clinton.
After sorting out that Perriello is the progressive (wobbly on reproductive freedom and more pro-NRA than standard issue Democrats), my next question was how did the 2013 gubernatorial primaries compare with the 2016 presidential primaries as to turnout and candidates. Not helpful. The GOP opted for nominating at its state convention and McAuliffe was the only Democratic candidate. Guess the McAuliffe/DP wanted to repeat the 2013 method to choose the nominee. What does the GOP intend to do this time — convention or primary?
In 2009 McDonnell was the only GOP contender for the nomination. On the Democratic side, McAuliffe spent a boatload of money, but he was in that quasi-carpetbagger category. Barely coming in second and far behind the winner. How did Deeds, McAuliffe, and Moran stack up against each other on a conservative to liberal dimension or was the differences based on the regionalism of the three?
The 2009 Democratic primary voter turnout was roughly 41% of what it was in the 2016 presidential primary. Does that low turnout in a gubernatorial primaries help or hurt someone like Perriello? With McAuliffe and other DP heavy hitters in Northam’s corner does anyone else have a chance?
HRC didn’t do as well in the VA general election than Obama had done in 2012 or 2008, but she was in a four person race and her margin over Trump was slightly better than Obama’s over Romney (all three were solid winning margins). A couple additional data points. 2012 Kaine Senate race – +5.9 — was that a plus for the Clinton/Kaine ticket? 2008 presidential primary: Obama 63.7% and Clinton 35.5% (turnout 25% higher than in 2016).
Northam is enough of a conservative that the VA GOP courted him to switch parties in 2009. Does that hurt or help him in the 2017 primary? Is Perriello going up against a Democratic juggernaut in funding and endorsements (McAuliffe-Kaine-Warner)? If Obama steps in for Perriello does that change the equation? Would he?
While a resident, most of the names mentioned are near non-entities to residents of the Southside and West of the state. Different in more politically active areas of Richmond, Charlottesville and NoVa. They will have to spend media money to get their recognition above 0 for most of the state.
Gillespie, has a national name and would be received much like McAuliffe. The others are state house names or regional businessmen. Perriello is the monkey wrench in the process. Like Sanders for HRC. Will he suffer the same fate? Who knows.
While having administrative and appointment powers, the Va gov is a weak executive style office and usually used as a stepping stone to Congress or Senate; or to some nice sinecure as a CEO or Un. President.
When I say the Va GOP and electorate is pragmatic, they follow mainstream conservative direction but is aware of consequences. So when Cuccinelli was nominated in a convention (not primary) and showed his extreme views, he lost (barely) to a Clinton hack carpet bagger. When some wild eyed tax cutting scheme periodically comes up in the Legislature, the Governor and GOP committee chairs smoother them so as not to risk VA’s AAA bond rating.
This may be changing. The rise of the extreme views of public officials educated at Liberty Un or Regent’s Un. are providing voices for those who were shunted aside by those who went to the more traditional sources of politicians/lawyers. W&L, UVa, James Madison , etc…
What helped Obama, HRC, and perhaps Perriello is the plethora of liberal arts and women’s colleges/university all over the state. They may provide the moderating force against the bible thumpers. While the liberal arts schools are usually the refuge of preacher’s kids, northern 3rd sons or those who couldn’t get into C’ville; the women’s colleges also play a role. In the past they provided a “genteel” education usually leading to the public schools and social education towards getting a husband. Of course that has all changed and now they are the centers of a light feminism and gateways towards professional careers. The recent and past graduates were legitimately appalled by Trump and his behavior. They have scattered throughout the state, but concentrating in metro areas, gained leadership positions, both Dem and Republican registered, and voted against him. A lot of the Henrico Co vote and some of the DC area vote is of that nature. The women who supported Trump could be assumed to have not attended higher education or were involved in church culture.
Without going deep into the numbers, we can make some general assumptions.
Aside from Gillispie and McAuliffe, Va politics does not attract much national talent. Its local and hemmed in by tradition and a fairly civic demeanor. No screaming ads with burning Twin Towers behind them. That could be changing but not there yet. My impression that the State GOP may be giving lip service to Trump minions, they are waiting to see if he fails spectacularly. He really isn’t their sort, don’t you know.
But neither was Sanders or perhaps Perriello. There is a core that could get behind them, but is it a majority? Is it widespread or concentrated in just a few areas? I’m not convinced. Looking at past performance of candidates and districts can be useful but I think the whole electorate is in flux and relying on those numbers doesn’t insure future performance.
In either case, the real power is in the Legislature. They provide the impetus for movement Right or Left. The Governor can appoint, highlight issues, veto laws and grant some money, but he can’t really strong arm state Senators.
R
Can somebody kindly explain to me, real slow and careful like I’m stupid, why “the Republicans will probably get all these nominees through and their Supreme Court Justice, too”? Is it just the numbers?
Because that hits me as a classic “frog on the hotplate” moment of recognizing just how completely broken the system really is. If a freakishly stupid and dangerous President like Trump can nominate a brain-damaged moron like Ben Carson for HUD and we just assume he’ll get the job (without even thinking for a second that he might get exhaustively questioned or challenged or even inconvenienced), has the United States government just become a complete farce, suddenly, in plain sight, all at once?
I’m old enough to remember Ted Kennedy ranting at William Rehnquist (who barely made it) and to remember Robert Bork (who got rejected because, as he hilariously put it, the nomination process “ha[d] become politicized”) — in retrospect those days sound like the apex of the Greek Polis.
I mean, can’t we, like, stop this train before it leaves the station (or at least cripple it)? It seems to me there’s a really good example of what happens when you don’t do that, like, maybe 78 years ago or thereabouts, which is suddenly less and less uncool to bring up…
Not complicated. There is no filibuster on appointments. Except SCOTUS.
The President (whose name is Trump) deserves appointees of his choice, unless they have strong negatives. At least 3 Rs will need to vote against. I don’t see that happening.
Right, but in what universe is a rational person looking at Ben Carson and saying, yes, this gentleman should be in the cabinet, running HUD — or, anywhere near any serious task — a reasonable, sane position?
Yes, everyone involved “is a Republican” (whatever that means now) but is that like being a Jet in West Side Story? Shouldn’t the Republicans join with the Democrats in saying “No, not this guy–he doesn’t know anything about anything, and he’s out of his mind, and has a Messiah complex–find somebody else”?
I mean am I reaching for the sky here? Can’t Ben Carson (at the very least) penetrate whatever degree of total systemic rot we’re looking at?
Right, but in what universe is a rational person looking at Donald Trump and saying, yes, this gentleman should be President, running the military — or, anywhere near any serious task — a reasonable, sane position?
I’m trying to separate the black-swan event of Trump’s election from the compensatory behavior of the rest of the government. I mean, the entire point of the confirmation hearings is exactly this: to protect the Republic from the whims of the Executive. If everyone just says “‘R’ after his name! Nothing I can can do — my hands are tied!” then the system isn’t even pretending to do what it’s intended to do.
analogous argument re: the Electoral College:
He was right.
You are right.
Won’t matter now any more than it did then. (May I be proved wrong about that! Please!!!)
In the Old Republic, there was an idea that a prez who had lost the popular vote wasn’t really “entitled” to anything—he was a fluke, who had no mandate. A caretaker at best. Think Rutherford B Hayes.
It was (and still is) possible for the Dems to resurrect this (quite sensible) idea, especially since it now appears that Repubs plan to use the appalling electoral college as a crucial component of their anti-democratic electoral strategy going forward. But Dems would have to act like they are learning to play a new game, and there is precious little evidence of this so far.
These nominees are so unqualified that we are living in a dark comedy. It is satire come to life. I think it simply would not be unpopular to vehemently oppose most of them, and emphasize early on that Der Trumper did not receive either a majority OR a mandate and that his unqualified nominees do not deserve confirmation under any theory.
Trump is an electoral fluke, not a normal prez. Dems must start a campaign that undermines every foundation of the Trumpi movement and their Fuhrer. Else we are truly lost.
Right, just like Obama was “supposed to” be bipartisan in everything he did — his victory ensured that he was obligated to compromise to the other side (that was literally how it got put). Of course when a Republican wins office, suddenly it’s all about “mandates for change” and total war.
“suddenly become a complete farce…”
Well, yes, that is what the preposterous electoral college and our incompetent white electorate hath wrought. We have “elected” a complete farce as prez, so it naturally follows that we will have a farce for a cabinet.
You are well aware of the massively increased partisanship which the “conservative” movement has injected into our politics, as well as the new abject Repub fear of being primaried by an even worse nutcase on the right. None of the Repubs have uttered a word of complaint about Der Trumper or his shenanigans so far, so they have absolutely no rhetoric of concern (let alone opposition) out there.
Quite a few of these nominees are historically absurd–most are completely unqualified and haven’t the slightest business accepted these nominations. There is an almost unlimited arsenal of ammo with which to oppose most of them. So I am not going to predict that they all get through–it is possible that the 2-3 Old Tyme Repubs (McFool, Collins, Graham, etc) can be made to refuse them. But none of them will be stopped in committee.
The comic cave of the House Repubs on their attempted return to the Corrupt House of Hastert shows that they (surprisingly) still fear public opinion and media pressure to some degree, and that these braindead lemmings can be stopped at the edge of the abyss. So there is some hope IMO, IF the Dems can actually show some brains and backbone and start learning how to play divide and conquer with the useless corporate media. They have to act like they know how to play the goddam game!
But probably only 1 or 2 of these scoundrels can be stopped at best—because yes, the system is completely broken, and no one in power will say the Emperor Has No Clothes…
Two reasons:
Having said that, often at least one nomination bites the dust.