Cloture Passes On Cass Sunstein, 63-35

Washington Independent :

On a 63-35 vote, the Senate has broken the filibuster against Cass Sunstein, President Obama's nominee for Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The Senate will hold an up-or-down vote on the nomination later this week. Republicans voting for cloture: Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Democrats voting against: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Sen. James Webb (D-Va.).

Read the whole story: Washington Independent

Comments

[marecek]

Beck's attack on Sunstein exposes the utter bankruptcy and absurdity of that guy. I don't know what Beck's beef is with Sunstein, but Sunstein is really one of the most brilliant minds in the country - he is a legal scholar of incomparable brilliance. People should really pause before they listen to some high school drop out like Beck decide in his infinite wisdom that Prof. Sunstein would be "a danger". What the hell does he know about anything. Fine, call me an elitist because I am unapologetic about being one. I do believe that we should respect accomplishment and wisdom and should listen to people who really know what they are talking about - I emphasize listen, not blindly follow (like Beck's followers blindly follow him). We never tire of the self praise about how America is the greatest country in the world and we have so many accomplishments in science, technology, and scholarship, yet so many of us follow demagogues in espousing hatred and contempt for people who have made something of themselves in life and have accomplished great things, as if they "think they are better than us". They don't think so; as far as concerns their expertise, they ARE better than us and we should appreciate and take advantage of that if we want to maintain our position in the world.

[Philclock]

Brilliance is neither wisdom nor common sense.

[Maury66]

Sorry, this is a ridiculous comment. Evidently, the member likes Glenn, who has no wisdom, no common sense, and is profoundly not brilliant. Pardon me for stating the obvious.

[maggiee]

I wonder why Webb voted against.

[Marlyn]

because he is a BLUE DOG?

[maggiee]

yeah but only a little. He's only periwinkle around the edges

[JenMI]

Republicans smell of racism...

[Maury66]

It's a palpable stench....­....palpab­le, second definition "easily perceptibl­e"....been wanting to use that word for a while...thank you!

[DevonTexas]

Read some of the comments after the article on the link. Geeze! The are the real Wackos! It's scary how they are sure the world is going to end if Cass... oops!

[BettyMcDonalds]

Sunstein is an awesome choice!

[abbienormal]

Take that Beck!

[rollingdivision]

Animal rights kook.

[PWM]

Can you explain?

[grata2ude]

No. Beck and Limbog haven't sent him their latest talking point.

[kareemachan]

rd likes to use buzz phrases. Just read some of the things he wrote on animal rights, and while I don't agree with ending hunting, his other points make sense. But why bother actually researching something before posting. That would be ..... intelligent.

[1dogs2]

Sen. Reid, what took you so long in scheduling the cloture vote? Precious time has elapsed when we needed someone writing stiff regulations that would rein in the irresponsible behavior of Wall Street.

[billhodges]

Great now we can have trial lawyers working on defending animals, and we can also expect to see regulation to make eating meat much more expensive or not available at all in the coming years. Great move Senate!

[Kassandra]

Meat isn't good for you. The human digestive system takes too long to process especially red meat so, it sits in your colon and rots.
Purely form deduction, that' s where a lot of colon cancer comes form IMHO

[wmholt]

The 57th advertiser Beck has lost:

Citrix Systems Inc's response:

Thank you for contacting Global Customer Support,

We have removed our advertising from the Glenn Beck program, and we will re-evaluate at a future date. We have no further information from our advertising department at this time.

Thank you,

Global Customer Support
Citrix Systems, Inc.
6500 Hollister Avenue
Goleta, CA 93117 USA
www.citrixonline.com
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: support@ci­trixonline­.com

[hilary916]

Choke on THAT, Beck!

[Philclock]

I can't wait for a civil rights lawsuit from my cat, represented by one of Sunstein's attorneys.

[billw8017]

I hope your cat makes you do right by her.

[zanzig]

If not, wait for the furballs late one night.

[amdezurik]

at least kitten support...

[kareemachan]

'However, nowhere in the introduction does Sunstein propose doing so: the discussion on page 11 is merely an exploration of the philosophical dimensions and formal sources of animal rights.'

Still, I like the idea of my cat suing me because I don't give her enough canned catfood! ;-)

[Philclock]

You don't know my cat, she'll take that one right up to Justice Sotomayor and say, "You should listen to my demands, because I would hope that a wise feline with her rich formerly feral experiences would come to a better decision than a panel of humans."

[Ken Maddox]

Mitch McConnell will hit the TV tomorrow talking about the destruction of America when a fillibuster can ended with only 60 votes. I'm sure this will become the new Nuclear Option. Just ain't right slapping the Republicans in the face with over powering logic and common sense. What can we expect next, a vote to pass health care reform with only a majority of America in favor of it. This is .....it's ...... well, I don't know it just is.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Dose his face ever move?

[festry548]

Only when it sags further down his chest.

[Antifascist-08]

Maybe this will be a good warm-up for health care. Practice makes perfect.

In a way, the best outcome would be to win by forcing a filibuster, shaming all those involved and getting the votes to get a straight up or down majority vote.

[VioletDatura]

Sounds good to me.

[Marcospinelli]

Why are the comments here about Glenn Beck?

And how is the confirmation of Cass Sunstein, who is anti-regulations, as Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a good thing for Democrats and all Americans. We need strong regulations in place, but that's not what Sunstein is about.

[GreyWolfSC]

Beck 'tweeted' or whatever the other day that Sunstein was one of the next targets after Van Jones.

[PhilipTaylor]

BECK’S BACKGROUND
[Sources: LDS Interview and Wikipedia]

Beck has virtually no formal Co11ege education, dropping out of co11ege in the first semester. Beck considers himself the most inf1uent!ia1 M0rm0n in the media today, one of the smallest groups in America.

Beck, a rec0vering a1c0holic and dr_ug add!ct, makes him ine1!g!ble for elected office, so he tries to terminate Presidential app0!ntments using “Dirt he Digs up.” Beck admits he’s “a desp!cab1e human being.” and says, “I h@ted people because I h@ted myself. I once f!red a guy for bringing me the wrong type of pen.” Beck says he battles thoughts of su!c!de, and depended on dr_ugs and a1coh01 that were so out of control it resulted in a d!v0rce from his first w!fe.

Beck claims he worked in radio at thirteen (unver!fied). He was f!red from three jobs on the same day and moved to Washington, DC but was f!red again. Unemployed for months he moved to another M0RM0N Station in C0rpus Chr!st (reason for terminating unknown). He moved around from city to city for several years landing in Baltimore and another M0rm0n, Pat Gray sa1vaged his job, but Beck admits he secretly wished Gray would fai1, as he wished for other M0rm0n acquaintances.

[PWM]

Bech has mental problems.

[grata2ude]

Beck and Limboss both have no education.

after attending Southeast Missouri State University for a year he dropped out of college. In the early 1970s, Limbaugh moved to Pennsylvania to work as a radio disc jockey, using the alias Jeff Christie on the air.

That is why these two reach and pander to those who are uneducated and believe everything Beck and Limbaugh say.

[1dogs2]

Where do you get the information that Sunstein is "anti-regulations"? My experience of him as a teacher of constitutional and administrative law is that he has a relatively liberal mind-set and a thorough understanding of the intricacies and necessity of regulation.

[Kassandra]

Read this from Forbes, maybe you'll feel better:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/12/cass-sunstein-regulation-czar-opinions-contributors-senate.html