“Never have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution.” - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
Sorry Senator Frist, but having to face questions about why we are fighting a war based on flawed intelligence is not an affront, it’s your job. It’s disappointing that you are so outraged at having to fulfill this responsibility.
I heart Conyers… and not just because he was atop Nixon’s enemies list. He’s been amazing the past two years.
Hendrick Hertzberg has a nice short piece on government procedures, by way of discussing Alito’s nomination, in this week’s New Yorker. There he goes into the absurdity of the current mantra regarding “up and down” votes. Hertzberg also addresses the self-serving way in which the Republicans use Senate and Congressional procedure to block what they oppose and then decry those procedures when they get in their way. Frist’s petulant outrage at Reid’s legitimate procedural move is a part of this tendency to deny and decry the basic rules of government. Filibusters, closed door meetings, and the like have their place in a democratic republic. They prevent the majority from running away with things. No one should be attacked for availing himself or herself of the established rules to guard minority interest–particularly when the matter of minority interest is as important as war. Good for Reid. Good for Coyners. Good for democracy.