DISQUS

eclecticbrotha · 10 months ago

Just friggin' amazing. I've lost count of how many times Dems have played right into the GOP's hands with some absurd maneuver designed to "outwit" the Republicans. This whole charade is designed to keep the GOP from using the Blago/Burris debacle against the Democrats, but the GOP finds a way to use it against us ANYWAY.

Let's face it. We're in a battle of wits and unarmed men are leading our side.

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

and i don't think it helped for Obama to call Burris a "good man and a fine public servant". i predict that extreme circumstances (and his own intelligence) will soon transform barack obama into a fighting democrat. McCain/Palin was easy compared to what he is up against now.

naschkatzehussein · 10 months ago

Someone referred to the Democrats as "God's fools". I say, leave God out of it.

Butch1 · 10 months ago

All the republicans have to do is sit back and watch the Democrats shoot their own collective foot. The Dems don't need any help from the republicans to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, they're old hands at this game.

ComradeRutherford · 10 months ago

There is ONE explanation for all of this:

The Democratic leadership is in collusion with the GOP. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.

Reid only does what his Republican overseers order him to.

Mimikatz · 10 months ago

You are right Joe that they should have thought this through. Having failed to do so, the Dems should just get it over with and seat Burris. He isn't Blago and given his age and lack of luster, he will either not seek reelection or be defeated in the primary in 2010. So he's a caretaker, and if Reid can get some assurance he will back the Obama agenda, I say seat him and Franken, and make the GOP look like the obstructionists they are. The Dems need the votes.

But really--can't we do better than Reid? Someone who can see more than just a few yards ahead? Durbin, perhaps?

Butch1 · 10 months ago

Anyone but Reid!!

druidbros · 10 months ago

I am sick of Reid's so called 'leadership'. We need to take this to the mat. Expose everything the GOP bastards do to stop progress. Tell the southern states they will only get the tax revenues they themselves generate. Invoke the 51 rule for cloture like the GOP was going to do. We have to stop bringing a knife to a gun fight.

ComradeRutherford · 10 months ago

There is ONE explanation for all of this:

The Democratic leadership is in collusion with the GOP. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.

Reid only does what his Republican overseers order him to.

Phil · 10 months ago

If memory serves correctly, Terrance Gainer was a law enforcement official of some sort in Illinois a few years back. Of course he'd know Burris! I just can't remember what office/title Gainer held.

io · 10 months ago

gainer was chief of state police in llinos google him

Older_Wiser · 10 months ago

Reid is nothing more than a Mormon Rethuglicon. If he allows this, that is the Rethugs filibustering, then he should invoke the rule that they have to hold forth on the floor and read the DC telephone book or whatever. Show them for the obstructionists they are. Put them in their damned minority place, like they did to the Dems all these years.

If the Dems can't do any better than they're doing, we're just totally screwed on anything that Obama wants to accomplish--by a MINORITY. You'd think, with all the clubiness that goes on in Congress, that these aren't even opposition parties.

Not only do the Dems need to replace Reid, they need to replace Pelosi as well. Otherwise, I will retain my "unaffiliated" voting status and will never be a registered Dem again--we need a strong party that looks out for the working people of this country--not a bunch of fucking politicians that are bought and paid for by corporations. If the Dems can't do it, and there's no will to start a party that can, well, remember this--"When in the course of human events..."

naschkatzehussein · 10 months ago

I became a Democrat in order to vote for Obama in the Oregon primary, but if Reid stays on as Majority Leader and/or Obama in the interest of "post-partisanship" retains Fitzgerald in Chicago or gives him a Mexican promotion, I am reverting to non-affiliated and ending my donations to the Democratic Party on all levels.

sullivan · 10 months ago

I am sick of this sh_t! WE American people have had enough! It is time for the little people to rise up and tell the leadership to move on!

Ben Dover · 10 months ago

Nothing is going to change until Harry "the Mormon" Reid is replaced. Harry the Mormon takes his orders directly from Salt Lake City. The Mormon Cult in Salt Lake City backs the neo-cons completely.
This is why, I believe, that Harry ALWAYS backs down and cappitulates to the neo-cons no matter which party is in power. Harry the Mormon has demonstrated this over and over the past few years and his removal from any leadership position is necessary before progress can be made. Harry is a tool of the Mormon Cult and the neo-cons.

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

lol. when i unsubscribed from his list, i promised to re-subscribe if he would cross over to the democratic caucus.

naschkatzehussein · 10 months ago

LOL to you too.

Bush Bites · 10 months ago

Yeah, I unsubscribed to his list too.

The sniveling coward.

MNUSA · 10 months ago

Your references to his religion is uncalled for and unnecessary. It makes you sound like a bigot.

cowboyneok · 10 months ago

Well, you might as well call me a bigot then. Mormons proved through Proposition 8 just how much of a "religion" versus "political action committee" they are. I'm for replacing Reid. I don't trust any of the Mormons. They take their orders from Salt Lake City... period.

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

i don't think one can be bigoted against notions and ideas.

MNUSA · 10 months ago

Oh, I'm cranky tonight. I'm not happy with the Democratic leadership (or lack of it) either. I don't know any Mormons, only the polygamous groups and pedophiles in the news. Perhaps Mormons ought to be cleaning up their own door steps and not worrying about others.

Elizabeth · 10 months ago

I live in Mesa, AZ , retired teacher and living here, I do know Mormons. The way they operate is not to publicly oppose or support political stands, but to get inside the system administratively and become "the deciders". They run all of the public systems in Mesa and many other Mormon communities in the area according to their beliefs. They even added an extra hour to the school day so that Mormon children can walk next door to the Mormon churches to get their daily religious lessons. All at the expense of the taxpayers. So you can bet that it is Harry Reid's job to plug in their agendas.

Butch1 · 10 months ago

You may be on to something. I wonder if he would swear an oath that he doesn't or will not take orders from the leaders of the LDS.

Gridlock · 10 months ago

Can we dispense with the "across the aisle" talk and all the blather about working together?

Rethugs aren't interested. They DON'T GIVE A FUCK.

Stop trying to make nice and frigging steamroll them!

naschkatzehussein · 10 months ago

Jane also has an excellent post on Harry Reid's role in this matter. He is willing to break the rule of law to keep one of his own from taking seat in the Senate, a man who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, while he bent over backwards to bow to Republican wishes and demands. Jane's list of Reid's backtracks and capitulations is quite long. It's also up on HuffPo's front page left hand column. It's really an eyeopener.

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

yeah in short: after bowing to bush, cheney, rove, miers, craig, lieberman, etc, etc, reid is finally taking a stand against burris. funny in a tragic sort of way.

Bush Bites · 10 months ago

Let's block Harry Reid from entering the Senate.

That guy is an imbecile and a coward.

interlude · 10 months ago

this is the wrong fight for senate dems. a waste of valuable energy.
Blago is an embarrassment, his action was an attempt to embarrass Obama...
but his appointment of Burris is not illegal,
and Burris may be a good person for the 2 year job.
when will dems learn to fight the important fights?

lark83 · 10 months ago

I totally agree. If there is nothing at all wrong with Burris, then lets just seat the guy. He a democrat and we need his vote right away.

Bush Bites · 10 months ago

Can you imagine being outsmarted by Cornyn?

Reid should resign in shame for that alone.

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 10 months ago

That's fairly pathetic because Senator Jubilation T. Cornhole has the IQ of a dead flashlight battery.

RevDrBillyBob · 10 months ago

Reid is a stooge for the Republicans. And an imbecile and a coward; like most Wimpocrats in the Senate. They will always back down. When they selected Reid as "leader" they selected someone like themselves.

Bush Bites · 10 months ago

John Cornyn and Harry Reid:

Both working to keep Democrats out of the Senate.

grandma · 10 months ago

Supreme Court asks to hear from Franken, counties before ruling on Coleman’s suit

The Minnesota Supreme Court ordered (pdf) Friday afternoon that the campaign of Al Franken respond by 9 a.m. Saturday to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s Dec. 31 petition to start over on the current court-ordered effort to count wrongfully rejected absentee ballots. The justices also directed seven Minnesota counties to tell the court whether they reviewed additional rejected absentee ballots the rival campaigns want counted — and if not, why. (In regional meetings this week, Sherburne County officials, for example, refused to consider three additional ballots the Coleman campaign asked them to review.)

The court’s order left open the possibility of calling for oral arguments as it considers Coleman’s petition. It also made it clear that the justices won’t have new instructions for the State Canvassing Board before the Secretary of State’s staff starts opening and counting absentee ballots from around the state on Saturday morning.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/21874/supreme-c...

Chris Tucker · 10 months ago

Please, President Elect Obama, REPLACE REID AND PELOSI with REAL Democrats who will fight tooth and nail FOR DEMOCRATS.

We voted for change, not the Same Old Shit we've seen from Reid and Pelosi for the past two years.

Indigo · 10 months ago

Maybe there'll be a fist-fight like in those funky Eastern EuroPeon congresses. That'll make great television!

tlsintx · 10 months ago

oh John Cornyn is SUCH a drama queen!!! haaaaahahahaha!

badbrad · 10 months ago

Why do I get the feeling that our senators are going to be debating this issue for much, much longer than serves the peoples interests. They will do anything to distract, deflect, and obstruct from implementing any policies that might actually help the American people. They serve their corporate masters alone.

Harry Reid is going to disappoint in a big, big way in the next two years. Again. And it's not because he's weak, spineless, etc. He just plays that part for us.

We have a golden opportunity to make some incredible changes if we have the right leaders. Right now, we don't.

ShirleyGoodnessanMercy · 10 months ago

Wake me up when this drama is resolved.

brian · 10 months ago

Why do Republicans hate democracy so much? They have to use the courts to get their way. Anyone who is sue crazy like Coleman does not deserve to be in the Senate. If he cared about the people he would stop all the crap and let the winner be seated.

wearing out my F key · 10 months ago

as compared to the democrats, who have no legal president whatsoever to bar burris from the senate? just make the law up as you go along- that's blanking golden!

wearing out my F key · 10 months ago

what burris and franklen need to do is stuff their suits with as much pork as possible, til the seams of their pockets are just bursting. then the other senators would quickly see the two as "part of the gang", and grant them admission with no problems at all.

Butch1 · 10 months ago

Republicans are never going to accept the fact that they have lost and will do anything it takes to sway the results and continue to give them any power. Of course, we need leadership from the Democrats to put them back in their deserved place. Anyone into holding their breath until that happens?! ;-)

timncguy · 10 months ago

when there are fewer than 100 senators seated in congress does it still take 60 votes to end a filibuster? Or, is it 60% of the seated senators?

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

the latter. cloture would require 59 votes if 2 seats are vacant.

dricey · 10 months ago

As long as Harry Reid is leader of the Senate Democrats, the Republicans will still run the Senate.

There will be no economic stimulus plan. There will be no Supreme Court confirmations. Half of Obama's Cabinet nominees will never make it to their departments. John Cornyn and Jim DeMint will exercise unchallenged veto power over everything Obama tries to do, thanks to "Spineless Harry" Reid.

The man is worthless. Utterly, completely worthless.

pdxprobert · 10 months ago

Look how they got rid of Trent Lott when the WH didn't want him... I would hope the Obama adnministration would have the same abilities if that's what he wants to do.. we'll see soon enough... I was listening to the guy who runs The Trends Journal ..his name is Gerald Celente... he has quite a good reputation for predicting future trends and is a-political.. his observation of the Obama administration through his cabinet picks says there is no real change in policies... he even noted how Cheney and Rice have complimented Obama on his spoken foreign policy positions... I never thought we would be leaving Iraq because of the wording on the agreements that specifically said "combat" troops would be withdrawn.. all they have to do is change the name of the troops staying in Iraq long term and all will be forgotten.. Even the MSM is pulling out their full time correspondents from Iraq...All I can say is I hope that oversight on government spending returns.. especially at the SEC and how these economy booster funds are spent... I never really believed there would much change from the policies the Bush administration set... were in a period of resource wars... until we are no longer dependent of the middle east and E. Europe for energy, we'll be at war for access to energy...

sherifffruitfly · 10 months ago

I've lost track of the score - has Reid distinguished himself as Even More Worthless As Majority Leader Than Daschle yet?

timncguy · 10 months ago

Harry Reid came up with ONE decent idea in his tenure to date. He kept the senate in seesion to stop Bush from making appointments while they were out.

Nothing else I can think of....

JD_Rhoades · 10 months ago

You know what? Let the bastards filibuster. Let them filibuster everything.

For so long the idea has been, "oh, well, we can't bring this up, they'll filibuster it." At this point, my answer is "so?" Make them do it.

See here's the thing: the American people do not like the filibuster. They see it as undemocratic.

Sure the "base" will love it, but the average voter is going to see it as obstructive-- if the Dem leadership has the balls to call them on it and point out that they're doing this becuase they lost the election.

cowboyneok · 10 months ago

Solution:

Seat Burris
Seat Franken

REMOVE REID

interlude · 10 months ago

total agreement !!

mirror · 10 months ago

Maybe Reid and the rest of the spineless Dems really don't care if Franken gets seated. I give Franken two years before he starts very quietly to become a real thorn in their sides.

Steve_in_CNJ · 10 months ago

Right. Paul Wellstone would have had little tolerance for the current Senate leadership. He is probably Franken's biggest hero, possibly his biggest motivation for seeking this seat.

kh7463 · 10 months ago

I wish we could tell all these people in government to shut up and stop acting like middle schoolers.

lark83 · 10 months ago

I've just noticed something today that I should have noticed a long time ago. Since the ugly proposition 8 vote here in California, Harry Reid is disliked by a lot of gay democrats nation-wide because he is a Mormon. I don't know if its fair or not. I always thought it was a little bit odd that there was a mormon, anti-abortion Democrat in the Senate.

Reid is from Nevada and that may explain it. I remember there was one republican senator from New England who voted against the Iraq war authorization. Thus he proved smarter than half of the democrats. His name escapes me but he lost his recent re-election bid. The New Englanders decided they couldn't stomach a republican of any kind.

sherifffruitfly · 10 months ago

Looks like the cavalry is coming to get Reid out of the stupidass corner he painted himself into:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/madi...

"Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is calling lawmakers back to Springfield next week for a possible vote on impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A House special investigative committee weighing whether to recommend impeachment is scheduled to continue its hearing Tuesday, a day after U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald is to ask a judge whether the panel can hear some of the covert recordings made of Blagojevich.

Today, Madigan issued a letter telling all lawmakers to be back at the Statehouse in Springfield Wednesday. The letter says the House may be called to vote on the panel's report next week. Madigan told his House colleagues they may need to be in session every day through Jan. 13."

RevDrBillyBob · 10 months ago

Franken = Tweedledee . . . Coleman = Tweedledum. . . . . yeah, let's all get excited about this. If Franken is seated (and he probably won't, since the Creepublicans have threatened to make Harry Reid cry), why would anyone think that he wouldn't just be another Reid-Hillary-Feinstein Wimpocrat ?

shak el · 10 months ago

The Dems in th Senate can change the rules to make a fillbuster end at a vote of 55 senators or simple majority. They could at least threaten to do this like the Repubs did to get the Dems to cave form 2004-06.

HarpoSnarx · 10 months ago

Oh the friggin irony - remember all that hand wringing about the Goopers abolishing the filiballbuster on our side?

We never used it anyway. So why don't the Dims abolish it now?

Yes your answer to that question may include the words, limp, flaccid, craven, etc.

naschkatzehussein · 10 months ago

Probably no one is reading this thread any longer, but there is a new story out from the Chicago Sun-Times that Harry Reid called Blagojevich up just days before he was arrested and was adamantly opposed to the governor replacing Obama with any one of three black politicians: Jackson Jr, Davis, and Jones because they were "not electable". I know Blago is a jerk, but it was a brilliant play of the race card in naming Burris, a fourth black, whom Reid and cohorts are now going to deny a Senate seat to someone who is legally qualified to fill. Geez, come Monday, I'm going down to the library to get that form that will turn me from being a Democrat back into a non-affiliated voter.

Reality · 10 months ago

Norm Coleman is beginning to look like an idiot. The challenged ballots are all from heavily Democratic precincts and the majority of them will go to Franken. It is time for him to concede. If Cornyn filibusters, Reid should follow the rules exactly and require him to remain standing at the podium reading, talking, or whatever as long as the filibuster lasts. The GOP must be stopped from blocking legislation for no other reason than they are no longer in power. The Senate has rules to stop this foolishness; all that is needed is for Reid to grow a pair and enforce them. The Republicans can either govern in a bipartisan manner or sit down and shut the hell up. Some of them get it; but too many of them don't seem to understand that the American people are sick of them.

JohnRJ08 · 10 months ago

Here we go again, folks. Nothing has changed. Another gridlocked, useless, partisan Congress that is more worried about political advantage and ideology than moving forward and addressing the major problems the country is facing.

Absolutely obscene.

Discouraged · 10 months ago

The Democratic leadership constantly backs down like a pack of whipped dogs and all their Republican masters have to do is stomp their feet. It makes me ill to see all this. It tells me nothing is going to change.