During the Bush years, the Senate needed 50 votes (plus Cheney) to pass legislation. Once Democrats took the Senate, that obviously changed. 60 votes became the new threshold. And no one has been a more avid promoter of that new standard than the Senate Democratic leader himself, Harry Reid.
Now that he has 60 votes, his handy excuse is bunk. So what does Reid do? Make more excuses.
"We have 60 votes on paper," Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said Wednesday in an interview. "But we cannot bulldoze anybody; it doesn’t work that way. My caucus doesn’t allow it. And we have a very diverse group of senators philosophically. I am not this morning suddenly flexing my muscles."
He's right of course, but that wasn't his previous excuse. His previous excuse was all about 60 votes. And the DSCC fundraising emails were all about 60 votes, like this one from May 1:
When Sen. Arlen Specter joined the Democratic Party a few days ago he said his old party had "moved far to the right."
It's the truth. All the GOP has is the same low wage, no regulation economic platform and cultural warfare garbage that's like a gallon of milk out past its sell date.
We want universal healthcare? A climate change bill? We got to help the DSCC beat its goal before the April 30 fundraising deadline so they can deliver President Obama a filibuster proof 60 seat Democratic Senate majority in the 2010 elections.
Well, the donors responded these past four years, and voters delivered 60 seat ahead of that 2010 schedule. And like the DSCC promised, we should now get all those wonderful things, right? Instead, we get more excuses!
Always excuses with Reid. For someone who is supposed to be tough, a former boxer no less!, he sure doesn't sound so tough whining about his poor lot in life -- not exactly what voters had in mind when they delivered Democrats a solid governing majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Any failures at this point are the Democratic failures. They have no excuses. And if the Senate falls flat in its duties because Reid can't deliver key votes, then that's his fault, not anyone else's. With real leaders, the buck stops at their desk. Sargent:
Reid’s comments raise a broader question: How much should Dems worry about the emerging Republican line right now, which is to raise expectations by pointing out that Dems now own the government — and its failures? As RNC chair Michael Steele put it: "I can say without hesitation that this government is totally theirs now, and everything that comes out of it and everything that results from it is on their plate."
Why run away from this? Some Dems might point out a better response: "Damn right — everything we accomplish is the result of Democratic rule." After all, Steele is right. The public did hand Dems a mandate to govern. Rather than worry about how the GOP is playing the "expectations game," the other option is for Dems to embrace the public’s expectations of them, own their accomplishments, and seize on the GOP line to point out even Republicans are admitting that they’re irrelevant now.
Just imagine how different things would be if McConnell had 60 votes. He'd be taking the bull by the horns, not making excuses about how 60 really isn't 60.
I'll be looking forward to DSCC fundraising emails these next couple of weeks, promising all sorts of wonderful things if only Democrats had ... 75 seats in the Senate? I wouldn't put it past Reid to make that the new threshold for Senate action on important legislation.
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