Now Pretend Everything In The Last Eight Years Never Happened

From People For The American Way:

In a letter released [Monday], all 41 Senate Republicans threatened to filibuster President Obama’s judicial nominees unless they were given veto power over judges from their states. The letter also demanded that President Obama renominate ultra-conservative Bush nominees like Peter Keisler, Glen Conrad and Paul Diamond.

Ah, ha ha ha ha ha...

[...] "The Senate has an important role in the confirmation process, and in extreme cases when the President has refused to consult with the Senate, the minority has tools to obstruct nominees who are obviously unfit for the bench. Obama looks to be clearing that standard easily,” said [PFAW President Kathryn] Kolbert. "But it was only a few years ago that the GOP was willing to blow up the Senate in order to eliminate the filibuster entirely. They told anyone who would listen that every judicial nominee deserved an up-or-down vote without exception. Apparently, the Senate Republicans have the collective memory of a goldfish."

Yep, we all remember the so-called Nuclear Option: under Republican rule, filibustering judges (if done by Democrats) was considered "undemocratic", even unconsititutional, and so much so that Republicans threatened to alter the rules of the Senate to remove the filibuster entirely. We all remember that under Bush, the custom of consulting with the (Democratic) home-state senators of a nominee was abandoned, because Elections Have Consequences, etc., etc. From the late 1990s into 2003, the Senate rules were changed multiple times to dilute, and finally nullify, the power of senators in the minority to offer any objection to a nomination.

But that was then, and this is now, and anyone who's been paying even the slightest bit of attention can tell you that there is absolutely nothing -- nothing -- that Republicans believe in as a matter of principle, and every belief changes exactly as much and as often as is needed in order to justify whatever they feel like doing at any particular moment. You just wait -- the filibuster now will be a cherished check-and-balance until whatever time the Republicans next gain power, at which time it will magically transform itself again into being a prime example of unconstitutional inequity. Sunrise, sunset.

You could ask whether they were lying then, or lying now, and the answer would be both. They are hacks: they do not care, either then or now, whether there is any deeper principle that should underlie their arguments. It has been amply demonstrated that conservatism is not, in fact, a political philosophy, for it has no philosophical underpinnings that cannot be immediately altered by circumstance. It is only a political puppet show, and one without any pretense of plot.

As a gloriously related point, this is precisely why I wish CPAC, the conservative gathering of such rousing intellectual figures as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, John Bolton and random 13 year olds, would happen every month. I can imagine nothing better. During the event we were treated to Republican after Republican muttering about how they had "lost their way", and needed to regain the trust of the American people, and the prescription for doing so consisted reliably of (a) saying the same crap that they always say, and (b) pretending none of the old crap they said actually happened. Small government (except when we want big government!) Deficits bad (except the ones we voted for time and time again!) We must fight against unconstitutional government attempts to subordinate the people (but the government can monitor, imprison and torture the people at will and with no recourse!)

The end message of the event was very simple -- surprisingly so, given that other political events tend to try to have a little substance attached (policy prescriptions, etc.), while the only conservative policy goal that can stand up against the slightest breeze seems to be the goal to get themselves back in power. The takeaway message from the event is that any basic competence whatsoever in government is equivalent to socialism.

Oh, and any level of taxation equals socialism, and any attempts to save America from economic depression are socialism, and bailing out capitalism is socialism, and not bailing out capitalism is socialism, and high speed rail is socialism, and energy independence is socialism, and any attempts to make fun of Rush Limbaugh's ever-ballooning sense of self importance is socialism, and pointing out that all of the events that led to the current mess happened under not just Bush, but with willing and supplicating conservative support... well, that's socialism too. The things in America that aren't socialism or incipient socialism are so few that they can be neatly packaged in a gift bag, available for sale in the lobby.

So while I imagine we're all supposed to be shocked that conservative Senate Republicans are threatening the same socialist, undemocratic, illegal, unconstitutional non-upper-down-vote-having filibuster that just a few short years ago represented an abomination against our very republic, it's merely hilarious. No, of course they don't have any principles. No, of course they can't remember or maintain their loudly proclaimed positions from one moment to the next. Every position is judged based not on some deep intellectual underpinning (remember, we're talking about the party that considers Joe the Plumber to be a guiding voice), but on whatever will get them through the day with as much partisan advantage as possible.

I'm going to sternly disagree here with PFAW president Kolbert, though. There is clear and documented evidence that goldfish can be taught. As of yet, there is no such evidence for Republicans.