KOS recently posted an excerpt from Congress Daily AM on Frist's strategy for the filibuster fight:
Senate Majority Leader Frist is expected to take an open-ended approach to the looming floor fight over eliminating the ability to filibuster judicial nominations, opting to allow members from both parties to fully air their concerns and beliefs before forcing a floor vote on the rule changes, a senior GOP aide said Wednesday.
Barring an emergency, Frist is expected to essentially suspend all legislative activity on the floor until the judicial nomination fight is resolved, the aide explained.
As a result, the debate will likely dominate the remaining legislative days on the calendar before the Memorial Day recess and involve long days of lengthy, back-to-back floor speeches.
As KOS said, what this means is that Frist does not have the votes, and plans to hold the floor open to debate until he does.
I believe this is known as a filibuster.
My suggestion for a democratic strategy is simple:
Don't debate. Give one impassioned speech on the simple choice presented to the Senate: Constitution or Majority Tyranny.
Then call for a cloture vote.
It's lose-lose for the republicans. If they over-ride the cloture move, then they themselves are filibustering. If they don't, they'll have to put their votes where their mouths are. No more maneuvering and pressuring by Frist. Either way, the dems gain major points for trying to force the legislature to move on to something useful, like, say, legislation.
Am I missing something? Is there any reason at all that we should let Frist hold the floor open until he pressures his party into towing the line?