Associated Press:
The Senate's next Republican leader issued a veiled threat to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush's troubled judicial nominations.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become minority leader Jan. 4, told the conservative Federalist Society Friday not to feel bad about the Senate election results because Republicans will hold 49 seats in a body that requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and bring legislation or presidential nominees to a final vote.
If the "Democrats want our cooperation, they'll give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote," McConnell said.
But, in 2005, McConnell had a different opinion of the filibuster:
The Senate, as we all know, works not just through the application of its written rules but through the shared observance of well-settled traditions and practices. There are a lot of things one can do to gum up the works here in the Senate, a lot of things you could do. But what typically happens is we exercise self-restraint, and we do not engage in that kind of behavior because invoking certain obstructionist tactics would upset the Senate's unwritten rules. Filibustering judicial nominees with majority support falls in that category...
Of course, McConnell was BSing back then -- why would anyone filibuster a nominee who didn't have majority support? Just to be a prick about it?
So, here's the score: Filibuster by dems, bad. Filibuster by GOPers, good. Why? Because he says so. It doesn't actually have to be consistent or make any sense... he's a Republican and cognitive dissonance is a Republican art form.
Tags: news politics republican democrat senate Mitch McConnell
