http://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2022/01/19/reminder-just-5-years-ago-32-senate-dems-signed-a-letter-calling-for-preservation-of-important-tradition-of-the-senate/
Most Senate Democrats are now agreeing with Barack Obama and others who have called the filibuster a “relic of the Jim Crow era” and an affront to “democracy.” However, it’s important to remember something that happened in 2017 which proves this is all political posturing:
Eddie Zipperer ~ Remember this 2017 letter urging Mitch McConnell to protect the legislative filibuster for the good of our Democracy? It was signed by 32 Senate Dems many of whom now believe that the filibuster is a Jim Crow relic.
http://collins.senate.gov/sites/default/files/Bipartisan%20Preserve%20Filibuster%20Letter.pdf
Eddie Zipperer ~ The old link is no good. Here’s a working link.
http://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senators-collins-coons-lead-effort-preserve-60-vote-threshold-legislation
Democrat Sen. Chris Coons tweeted this at the time:
Senator Chris Coons ~ The filibuster rule in the Senate is one of the only remaining traditions that forces us to compromise. We need more of that, not less.
Last year, @SenatorCollins and I made that clear in a letter to Leaders McConnell and Schumer – and 59 Senators from both parties joined us.
Gee, what happened?
“Democrats want the Senate to work, and we are willing to partner with our colleagues across the aisle if we can get things done for the American people,” said Senator Coons. “We have a long way to go to heal the wounds between our two parties, but this letter is a small first step towards that important goal.”
Senators Collins and Coons’ letter was signed by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), John McCain (R-AZ), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Luther Strange (R-AL), Richard Burr (R-NC), Angus King (I-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bob Casey (D-PA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Boozman (R-AR), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Thune (R-SD), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Dean Heller (R-NV), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Rob Portman (R-OH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Kennedy (R-LA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Jon Tester (D-MT), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Todd Young (R-IN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
A lot has changed in a relatively short amount of time.
Eddie Zipperer ~ It just shows how unprincipled these Senators are. Four years ago (when it benefitted them) they supported it for the good of the land. Now that it doesn't benefit them, it's racist. So crazy.
Well, they're Democrats - so they're two-faced hypocrites - that's who and what they are - worthless, untrustworthy scum.
Eddie Zipperer ~ Like 30 Republicans signed it too when they were the majority party. Imagine getting 30 Democrats to sign onto this now. You'd be lucky to get 3.
CrimsonEdits ~ What changed……….??? 😂😂😂
If Republicans take back the Senate after the midterms, suddenly the Democrats will be embracing the filibuster again (actually they’ve embraced it as recently as last week).
‘Surreal!’ Guy Benson & others noticed Dems embraced ‘relic of the Jim Crow era’ to block Sen. Cruz’s Russia sanctions bill
http://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2022/01/14/surreal-guy-benson-others-noticed-dems-embraced-relic-of-the-jim-crow-era-to-block-sen-cruzs-russia-sanctions-bill/
This week, President Biden, Kamala Harris and many other Democrats have said the filibuster has to go because, in part, it’s what Barack Obama called a “relic of the Jim Crow era.” Biden said in Georgia earlier this week that those who aren’t opposed to doing away with the filibuster are no better than segregationists. POTUS then named some Democrats as examples:
The Recount ~ “Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”
— President Biden urges lawmakers to support voting rights legislation
http://twitter.com/i/status/1481020304298332170
VP Kamala Harris has said “enough is enough” and the filibuster should go:
Vice President Kamala Harris ~ Four times last year, the majority in the Senate tried to advance legislation on voting rights. And four times last year, Republicans in the Senate used outdated rules to block it. Enough is enough.
Biden also said “the majority should rule” in the Senate:
Townhall.com ~ BIDEN: "In America, the majority should rule in the United States Senate."
https//twitter.com/i/status/1481018134349987840
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod also said the filibuster has to go:
David Axelrod ~ If the filibuster is the antidote for the "disease of division," as Sen. Sinema suggests, why do we have such a badly-divided senate? The truth is, the filbuster has become a cudgel for extreme partisanship, not the solution to it.
And this is where it gets ironic:
Derek Hunter ~ Democrats TODAY filibustered a bill by @tedcruz to impose sanctions over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Guy Benson couldn’t help but notice the Democrats aren’t angry that, when it comes to Sen. Ted Cruz’s Russia sanctions bill, the minority ruled:
Guy Benson ~ The bill got 55 votes, but not the 60 needed for passage. Did Democrats just effectively ...
filibuster ... tough sanctions that would hurt ... Russia’s strategic interests?
Is this not disgraceful coddling of (colluding with?) Putin, using a racist, democracy-killing tool?!
It’s perfectly fine when the Democrats do it, apparently.
Guy Benson ~ It is just spectacular that Senate Democrats filibustered something this week, of all weeks. That it happened to be a Republican bill that would have turned the screws on Putin is just icing on the cake. Point and laugh at these ridiculous people.
Guy Benson ~ Perusing a few news articles about Dems’ successful filibuster of this bill, literally in the middle of their high-decibel & demagogic push to dismantle the tool they’ve just used (again). Not one of the articles I’ve seen notes this context, even in passing. Surreal!
You can’t make this stuff up.
Adora Lainey ~ Democrats are racist for using the filibuster. That’s how this works, correct?
According to the “rules” as set by the Dems, yes.
Yes, the Democrats are racists using a “relic of the Jim Crow era” ... being like George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis ... because ... because ... because ... George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis WERE ALL DEMOCRATS, of course!
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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