Yes! Well, maybe, but this is exactly the kind of toughness we need from Democrats. The Hill is reporting that Democrats might bypass filibuster in order to pass their longer debt ceiling bill.
If there EVER was a reason to go nuclear over the filibuster, it's to save the country from Republican economic terrorists who want to crash the worlds economy. Go Harry!
On "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace asked Manchin to explain Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) comment that Democrats have "several somethings" they can use as a back-up plan to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default.
"I would assume that they might be referring to the so-called 'nuclear option,'" Manchin said. "If you have to use that basically to keep this country from falling into default. Do we go to 51 votes on the Senate side to prevent that from happening?"
I believe President Obama made a serious mistake by entering into negotiations with Republicans last week over the Debt Ceiling. After proclaiming for weeks that we can't negotiate while the Republicans are holding America hostage, he suddenly invited them over to start negotiating. The can't negotiate with hostage takers was the strongest argument the president had, it gave him a boost in the polls while everyone else was falling, and then he simply gave that argument away.
I really hate a lot of what Harry Reid does when he compromises with Republicans, but I've got to hand it to him, when it comes to the political boxing match, he knows how to throw some really hard punches. If he does nuke the filibuster over this issue, the public is going to back him, and his personal poll numbers and the Democrats poll numbers, are going to jump.
The hostage taking issue threatens our very democracy, and the Democrats are on the right side of it, both morally and politically. If there EVER, EVER was a time for the Democrats to fight to the very end over an issue, this is it! As I posted in a comment earlier today:
We can not ask our soldiers to risk life and limb in foreign lands, while we sacrifice our democracy here at home.