Bart it was one year ago that America got to know all about the Bundy militia whether we wanted to or not. While not necessarily the same thing as the tea party, they are cut from the same cloth. And they left the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in a mess.

Poor old tarp man Lavoy Finicum. We hardly knew ye.

“If it were a Tea Party protest”, the area would be left cleaner than when they arrived, and there would be no beatings, arson, assaults, lootings, and vandalism.

Senators Warren and Markey are pretty much daring McConnell to use the nuclear option.

Kevin K, you are right about the dems need to show some spine on this. They need to chuck the namby pamby. If the republicans are bound and determined to shitcan the filibuster, it makes no sense for the democrats to try and save it. Save it for what, if it can be disposed of so readily??

I thought getting rid of it would be a lot tougher. This may have to do with dems rewriting the rules in 2013. Getting rid of the filibuster is best eventually. As long as the dems don’t fall into idiot mode, regain the majority in the Senate and THEN reinstate the filibuster.

As anticipated, the Pence White House has indeed gone with a young, extreme Hard Right judge in the exact mold of Scalia. And as anticipated, Fox News has been cheerleading the pick. (It appears from their coverage that they knew Gorsuch would be the nominee at least a week early, as they suddenly began pushing stories about him for a full week before the Tweeter-in-Chief confirmed he was the choice.) Hardiman was never under very serious consideration, at least this time. The Pence White House has admitted that they didn’t even prepare briefing materials on Hardiman – that was just to create the illusion of a contest when Trump had already made up his mind to go extreme weeks earlier.

I find it hilarious that Bill O’Reilly felt it necessary to talk up what he thought the virtues were of Gorsuch, and to note that Gorsuch was approved to the bench by bipartisan acclamation, and to desperately insist that Dems must somehow be in a tough place if they don’t vote for him. Not one mention of how the GOP had no problem whatsoever ignoring and obstructing Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland for nearly a year after they had similarly supported him.

I frankly wonder how the GOP would react if the Dems were to treat Pence’s upcoming replacement of Anthony Kennedy in 2018 by saying “this is a midterm election year and we’d like the American People to decide this matter”.

Sadly, if history teaches us anything, it’s that the Dems will most likely cave on this matter and allow Gorsuch to take the seat that was stolen from Merrick Garland. If they don’t cave, the Right Wing is practically salivating about abolishing the filibuster and simply ruling by fiat. But the Dems get to choose. I find it interesting that CNN is trying to play this situation as the Dems trying to decide if they want to risk the rule being changed regarding further appointments, when it is clear that the Right will abolish the filibuster anyway. And yes, McConnell is itching to do it. He hates the Dems he has to deal with and would be happier if he didn’t even need to look at them anymore. His public posture is just intended to somehow lend him some ethical or moral high ground that he’s forgotten he forfeited over the past several years. He wants to make it look like he’s reluctant to take this step, when his behavior and comments through the Obama presidency betray his actual intent. A man who would prioritize obstruction, who would refuse to even have a hearing for Merrick Garland, and who would smugly gloat about his proudest moment in the US Senate being when he told Obama “You will not be filling this Supreme Court seat” is not a man who has any integrity or moral standing. At the drop of a hat, he’s ready to “go nuclear”, and he knows that the Dems know it.

My thinking is that the Dems should filibuster on principle and force the GOP’s hand – let them go ahead and get rid of the filibuster, and thus make it clear to the country who and what they are. At the least, this would show some spine from the Dems and lay the groundwork for their base to be more seriously involved in the 2018 midterms.

And make no mistake, Gorsuch is an extreme, vicious choice. This is a middle-aged man who has spent his life on the Far, Hard Right – this is not a man who will be going to the Supreme Court and suddenly having an epiphany about justice. This is a man who openly has enjoyed taking Far Right partisan positions, and who regularly has embraced those in his rulings. And at the age of 49, we can expect, he will do exactly what Scalia did, if not worse – he will be a vote against progress and for a reversion to a USA that has not existed since before Brown v Board of Education. And he’s only the first of what will likely be at least three young Scalias to be inflicted upon the Supreme Court. We can now count on Kennedy and Thomas to step down during Trump’s first term – the only question is whether the midterms allow the Dems to regain a small majority in the Senate to thus block him from further extremists. I fully expect the other two Right Wing justices to each announce their retirement within the next year. Those seats are lost, but the bigger problem will be if either Ginsberg or Breyer needs to step down for any reason. Should that happen, the Supreme Court will wildly swing to the Right, and pretty much every sane ruling we’ve seen since 1955 is in imminent danger of being overturned.

Again, I really hope that the people who sat out the 2016 election are paying attention. Elections have consequences and these are some pretty nasty ones.

truman, if Trump orders Senator Turtle to nuke it, Senator Turtle might tell the orange orangutan to piss up a rope. So far, the Donald seems to be lacking in the civility department.

After further reading on wikipedia, changing Senate rules is up to the presiding officer of the Senate, VP Pence. However Pence may not be able to act without the Turtle’s say so.

Truman, the only Democratic Senate vote I can see as possible is West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin for obvious reasons, and maybe one or two more from red states where they’re up for reelection, but not the needed 60.

@doors 17. The correct spelling of “Tucker” is “fTucker”. The “T” is silent. Tune in Fux Noise nightly to see why.

The hybrid Turtle-Man Mitch won’t get a single Democrat vote in favor of Gorsuch. Orange Twitler will demand the nuclear option. It’s an even money bet whether the hybrid obeys the commands of Herr Twitler. If he doesn’t, his wife Elaine may be fired from the Cabinet.

Relax Tucker. (who the hell names their kid Tucker? Sounds like a name for a dog) At least he’ll get a hearing and a vote, unlike Merrick Garland.

My guess is they’ll vote along party lines, 52-48 in favor, but they’ll never reach the needed 60, which will force Mitch McConnell calling for the nuclear option and change the rules again.

One thing is certain, Fox News will be dusting off the word, obstructionist, and bring it back in style.

I would expect nothing else of Tucker who loves to thump his chest about “tolerance” but only when it suits him. 👍

Well Trump has picked another fight. Not with the CIA but US Senate Democrats. Trump could have picked Hardiman over Gorsuch. Hardiman, a blue collar kind of guy, had a chance of being confirmed with the democrats.

Republicans say they’ll use the nuclear option in face of a filibuster. I don’t know,….if I understand the arcane Senate rules correctly, rule changes must be made on the opening day of the session of Congress. They can’t be done midstream. Unless they made rule changes I don’t know about. The beginning of the next session is in two years.

Of all people to jeer from the peanut gallery, Tucker Carlson is the most galling. Thank God he stopped wearing the bowtie before some berserk liberal strangled him with it.

Maybe Trump is doing the democrats a favor on this. Forcing them to grow a backbone.