Thanks for putting me on the rec list tonight tonight. I wish my news wasn't tragic and wished it was something good to report but I always appreciate being on the rec list. Ok, so you know how Mitch McConnell was threatening to use the nuclear option when he becomes Senate Majority Leader?
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday starkly warned Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) not to eliminate the filibuster on presidential nominations, threatening to end the 60-vote threshold for everything, including bills, if he becomes the majority leader.
“There not a doubt in my mind that if the majority breaks the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate with regard to nominations, the next majority will do it for everything,” McConnell said on the floor.
With at least half a dozen key judicial and cabinet nominees pending, all of whom Republicans have problems with, Reid has threatened to invoke the so-called nuclear option to change the rules of the Senate and eliminate the filibuster on nominations — but not anything else.
The minority leader sketched out what a Republican-led Senate would do with 51 votes. Job No. 1, he said, would be to repeal Obamacare. He also mentioned lifting the ban on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, approving the Keystone XL pipeline and repealing the estate tax (which he called the “death tax”).
“These are the kinds of priorities that our members feel strongly about, and I think I would be hard pressed,” McConnell said, “to argue that we should restrain ourselves from taking full advantage of this new Senate.” - TPM, 6/18/13
Ok, Mitch. Try and sound like a big tough guy. But Democrats had to take Mitch down memory lane on this:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Back then Democrats were in the minority and McConnell was part of the Republican leadership that was deeply frustrated with Democrats’ use of the filibuster against President Bush’s judicial nominees to fill coveted vacancies. McConnell supported eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court and appeals court nominations.
“The filibuster would be preserved for all legislative items, preserved for executive branch nominations, not for the judiciary,” McConnell said on May 23, 2005. “If we have to exercise the constitutional option tomorrow, it will be narrowly crafted to deal only with future Supreme Court appointments and circuit court appointments, which is where we believe the aberrational behavior has been occurring in the past and may occur in the future.”
It was one of several remarks from McConnell during that era defending the prospect of ending the filibuster for certain nominations with a bare majority vote — what’s known as the nuclear option. Today it’s Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who’s flabbergasted with the GOP’s unprecedented use of the filibuster, and is threatening to go nuclear and end it for presidential nominations — but not legislation.
And now McConnell is making the opposite argument of what he said in 2005.
“It would be naive to assume that you could break the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules for the Senate only for nominations,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. “There would be a widespread clamor across our conference, where we to be in the majority, to take that precedent and apply it to everything else.”
It’s yet another example of thoroughly the two parties’ positions have flipped since the mid-oughts, when Republicans controlled the Senate. However, Reid’s threats come as Republicans are using the filibuster in unparalleled ways.
In the 2000s, Democrats used it to block high-level judicial nominees they claimed were extreme or unqualified, and eventually caved in the face of GOP threats to use the nuclear option. Republicans, by contrast, have used it even when they lack a pretext of extraordinary circumstance. Examples include filibusters of Chuck Hagel, a former GOP senator, for secretary of defense, and Caitlin Halligan, a widely respected nominee for the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. A recent nonpartisan government report found that President Obama’s judicial nominees have faced more delays and obstruction than any of the last six presidents.
Republicans are also using the filibuster to demand changes to agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by refusing to confirm anyone to run it. And they’re signaling they’ll block several of President Obama’s pending executive nominees and every one of his picks to fill three remaining vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. - TPM, 6/19/13
Womp womp! He's making a clown of himself, especially while his party is ripping itself a part on immigration:
http://www.politico.com/...
The top Senate Republican has taken a low-profile during the most significant policy fight this year. He’s let his top deputy, Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), take the lead in offering a border security plan that much of his conference has rallied behind. He has stayed away from the efforts by Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven to bridge the partisan divide on the bill. And he’s made scant mention of the issue on the floor or in press conferences.
Instead, McConnell is using his pulpit to relentlessly hammer home points on fights over the filibuster, the Internal Revenue Service scandal and even Obamacare.
Asked this week about his views on the prospects of getting an immigration deal, McConnell punted: “I’m not going to do an immigration interview right now.”
McConnell’s relative silence is hardly a surprise to GOP senators who know him well. He is rarely vocal in public when his fellow Republicans are badly divided over an issue — particularly one as emotional as immigration.
“I think it’s tough as a leader because obviously you’ve got a conference that’s in very different places,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 3 GOP leader.
And while he is widely expected to vote against the bill, McConnell knows it makes little political sense to become the face of the opposition at a time when Republicans are trying to stem their losses with Hispanic voters.
So McConnell appears to be sitting back and choosing to engage when he and his party are on firmer political ground.
“That’s his style,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the veteran Utah Republican. “Remember, he represents 45 senators.” - Politico, 6/19/13
Wow, he makes an ass of himself over his threat about the nuclear option and he's letting his party rip itself a part. The real kicker is he's keeping a low profile to save his own image. But as Orrin Hatch said, “That’s his style.”
In related news, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D. KY) will be holding a town hall meeting tonight:
http://richmondregister.com/...
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes will be visiting Madison County for a town hall-style meeting Thursday evening at the County Extension Office to discuss election law reform.
The meeting will last about an hour and a half, said Madison County Clerk Kenny Barger.
Grimes will likely speak about early voting at the meeting, then open the floor to questions and feedback from the public, Barger said.
The clerk said he was glad Grimes chose to come to Madison County, because it offers an opportunity for voters here to become better informed about the election process. - The Richmond Register, 6/17/13
The Madison County Extension Office is located at located at 230 Duncannon Lane. You can contact them for the time for tonight's Town Hall meeting:
(859) 623-4072
Grimes has yet to announce her candidacy but hopefully she will very soon. Meanwhile, another person is looking to enter the Senate race:
http://www.courier-journal.com/...
A University of Louisville communications professor is the latest Democrat to announce he will challenge U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 election.
Greg Leichty, who has been on U of L’s faculty since 1991, said he believes he can win next year’s Democratic primary against the current field of candidates and would serve as “part of the vetting process” for Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes if she enters the race.
“I’m a militant moderate,” Liechty said.
So far, Louisville music promoter Bennie J. Smith and Owensboro contractor Ed Marksberry have said they will enter the Democratic primary to challenge McConnell, a Republican. Several other Democrats — including former Miss America Heather French Henry, environmental lawyer Tom FitzGerald and Lexington lawyer Bill Garmer — have said they are considering the race.
Leichty, 57, said he believes the primary winner will will have ample money to put up a credible challenge to McConnell because McConnell will be a top target of national Democrats.
Leichty said he and others began a Facebook group about six months ago to talk about challenging McConnell either by putting up a candidate or starting a political action committee. When no top-name Democrat stepped forward, Leichty said, he decided he would run.
He said one of his concerns is the political system, which he says polarizes elected officials and voters in such a way that little can get done. - Louisville Courier-Journal, 6/20/13