Well, here it is. Thanksgiving has come and gone and Senator Harry Reid's staff never called me back about the lack of a Mukasey filibuster. They kept saying they would. I called them - in DC - three times, and each time they dutifully took down my information... "Steve Brant... wrote about there being no Mukasey filibuster in The Huffington Post... wants to know why Senator Reid didn't call for a 'cloture vote' that would have permitted a filibuster... your phone number is... got it... we will get back to you."
Nice young guy on the phone each time. Always spoke in such a way that I believed I'd get a call back. And I'm not blaming him. Maybe the message to call me got lost. Three times. Maybe that's what happened.
But here's someone who actually spoke to me. Her name is Erica Chabot. She's a spokesperson for Senator Patrick Leahy, in his DC office. And she's a real professional. I have to compliment whoever answered the phone in Senator Leahy's office too, for putting me through to Erica rather than taking a message.
Erica and I probably spoke for at least 5 minutes. I told her how to find my original Huffington Post piece... told her about Greg Sargent's Talking Point Memo report that there was no filibuster because Senator Reid made a deal with Senate Republicans to pass the defense appropriations bill (so the Democrats could not be accused of not funding the troops) and because the Democrats didn't want to set a bad precedent by filibustering a cabinet secretary... and mentioned Glenn Greenwald's Salon.com article about how there really is a "60 votes required" reality in the Senate now (at least in the minds of the Republicans).
When I asked why there had been no filibuster, she said "No cloture vote was called, so there could be no filibuster." When I asked her why that was, she said "If you want to know why no cloture vote was called, you'll have to call Senator Reid's office." She also reminded me that Senator Leahy voted no on the nomination. But when it came to knowing why Senator Reid did something, she really could not help me.
And I can understand why. Just as I can understand that Senator Leahy had no control over how the vote on Mukasey on the Senate floor took place.
As someone who spent 15 years working for the government, I know how compartmentalized the government can be. People only have as much power as they have. So, just because Senator Leahy chairs the Judiciary Committee, that doesn't mean he gets to control how the Mukasey vote on the Senate floor takes place. That's Senator Reid's job... and prerogative... which only Senator Reid's staff can (and should, in my opinion) explain.
So, thanks again, Erica for talking with me. At least you know that our government is supposed to answer questions posed to it by "We, the people". And I respect that there are some questions you have answers to and some questions you don't.
Now if Senator Reid's staff would let me know what he was thinking... why he didn't call for a cloture vote... we could put this issue to bed. Until then, I'll just have to consider you one strange bird, Senator Reid. You let a man become Attorney General who doesn't know if waterboarding is torture and who speaks positively of the unitary executive theory.
Or maybe I should just consider this "business as usual" and move on.
But then again, Senator Reid, you have prevented bad people from getting jobs with the Bush administration by NOT conducting business as usual yourself. You just kept the Senate in session during the Thanksgiving recess to prevent President Bush from making any recess appointments. That was a really great thing... and a real precedent-setting move. Thanks!
But by you doing that you make it that much harder for me to understand why you let Mukasey in with less than 60 votes. Just a really strange decision.
Well, one last thought. I wish someone would explain why a cloture vote has to be called before a filibuster can start. I know the Senate has many rules, but I didn't know that the filibuster can be boxed out as an option by one of those rules. That doesn't sound right at all. What would "Jefferson Smith" say about that?
Addendum:
For those who think by "Jefferson Smith" I mean Jimmy Stewart's character from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", you're right. There's a lot "official Washington" could learn from that movie. In fact I once proposed that it be shown to every member of Congress once a year on the anniversary of Jimmy Stewart's birth (May 20th). Jimmy would have turned 100 next year. Maybe it's time for me to propose this idea again.
Here's the last 10 minutes of the movie. After you watch it, I think you'll understand why they should too.
Follow Steven G. Brant on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SteveBrant
If that movie were remade today,that last scene would have to be re-written so that the Vice President would tell Mr. Smith to go f*ck himself.
Then, the boisterous crowd would be shown, first being pepper sprayed, then being shot with Tasers, the miniature, portable version of the electric chair that has killed so many of us.
Allen McDonald, El Galloviejo®
And please don't forget, the Democrats are in the majority, if they didn't want Mukasey, they could have voted against him. It just takes a simple majority to confirm or reject.
Finally, it's silly to expect the party to filibuster just because a small minority of leftists stamp their feet and scream like little children.
I updated my waterboard of directors cartoon to include Mukasey.
http://writechic.wordpress.com/torture-sucks/
Maybe Feinstein and Schumer should be on there, too at least in the background looking on.
This country is doomed to go through some very dark times, because the people who were charged to do what was right, instead grunted up to the trough and had their fill.
These are =old= men .. very old. They have made their fortunes beyond measure from their corruption, and they're going to continue it until all of their gold turns into dross.
And the world ... what will the world do? Like any sensible group of men and women would, they will recognize what is happening here and move on with their own goals and their own aspirations for their own countries ... and take steps to contain the harm that our country could do to theirs.
Oil prices? In dollars, at least, straight to the moon. You're vulnerable there: you haven't seen the half of it. Dollars? No, I prefer euros, hyuans... Dollars just won't do the trick. Mortgage-backed securities? Don't want 'em anymore. Just-in-time shipping? Dream on. My ship's late -- oops, sorry -- and your factories look like they'll be closed for a month or more.
"I can make you hurt. Real bad. Without firing a single shot; without a single act of war. Without giving you anything to aim at. Just with my telephone. Wanna be the world's bully? I can freeze you right off the playground, fat boy, and we're bigger than you. Got the picture now?"
Eventually, one will hope, the American people will shake off their illusion-glasses once and for all, bring in some REAL new-blood in their leadership, and work to make this country back into the respectable world leader that it ... once, and not so long ago really ... was.
I suppose a dwindling handful of partisan loyalists will still insist that he and Nancy "Let Them Eat Cake" Pelosi are doing a terrific job under incredibly adverse circumstances that limit their ability to reverse the Bush Crime Family atrocities.
But as President Unitard eloquently observed: "There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: 'Fool me once... shame on... [pause] Shame on you... [pause] If fooled, you can't get fooled again.'"
What would he say about that, or for that matter, about anything that's gone on in Washington, say, the last 7 plus years?
I think maybe he would say he was in the wrong country. Or, the wrong planet. Maybe even the wrong dimension.
I think maybe he would say he was in The Twilight Zone.
This is one I didn't knopw about either. If someone knows the rules about filibusters, please share.
And yet. We'll never know, aside from "my goals are not your goals".
I wish there were a "Sorry, you forgot to support the Constitution; Next!" rule.