With media grandstanding opportunities curtailed by filibuster reform, John McCain is really hurting inside.
Every pundit's favorite backbencher, Sen. John McCain, has made a career of joining "gangs" to get shit through the Senate's f'd up 60-vote threshold (Gang of Eight on immigration, Gang of 14 on administration nominees, you get the picture). With yesterday's nuking of parts of the filibuster, McCain's ability to garner unwarranted camera time is finished. And
HE'S ANGRY!
"This is a sad day," McCain said. "The sorrow of what has been done to this institution will remain with us for a long, long time."
Not sure who "us" is, but if it's Republicans, they can bring back the filibuster if they ever retake control of the Senate. I wouldn't hold my breath.
McCain quoted a letter written by the late GOP Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-W.Va), in which Byrd called a filibuster rules change "grossly misguided."
I wonder if McCain asked zombie Robert Byrd about the GOP's unprecedented levels of obstruction. If duly informed of the current state of affairs, Byrd might change his mind.
"The Senate was set up to be different," McCain declared.
Mission accomplished! The Senate has six-year terms, 335 fewer members, and an empty state like Wyoming has as much clout as states with people in them like California and New York and Texas. So yeah, different than the House. But the filibuster? No mention of filibustering in any of our nation's founding docs.
None of that should cast doubt on how genuinely distraught McCain is. When his entire schtick depended on a dysfunctional Senate, his distress over a better-functioning chamber can only be real.