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November 21, 2003
Filibuster
I don't agree with Matthew Yglesias when he says the filibuster should be junked. He has proposed swapping the filibuster rule in general for up or down votes on judicial nominees. I suppose in a truly progressive era, the filibuster is an inconvenience, but now it's only doing progressive causes good. Today's Senate vote on invoking cloture on the energy bill was 57-40. I'd be happier with a solid 41 votes against it, and since two Senators who missed voting were Kerry and Edwards, I would say Schumer's Democrats probably have it in the bag.
Check out an interesting trend though, of Northeast and Sunbelt Republicans joining "blue state" Democrats in opposing their own party on this measure. New Hampshire and Arizona are key states in any Democratic presidential victory next year, and should also be key pickups for Democrats to target. Republicans stopped giving conservative Democrats from the South a free pass long ago, we ought to do the same to liberal Republicans from the North. If the Susan Collinses of the world want to stay in the Senate, they're going to have to switch parties one of these days.
Posted by Chris at November 21, 2003 01:11 PM
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