King Harry Decrees: Democrats Lost the Election, So Now Theyre Planning to Stage a Coup in the Senate

Harry Reid Schemes to Change Senate Rules to Continue Radical Agenda
The Democrats lost big time in November. But that’s not going to stop them from trying to continue ramming through their radical agenda. Human Events reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been scheming to drastically change the rules of the Senate to prevent the Republicans from blocking Legislation. In a closed-door meeting last week, Reid told the Democrats that he may outright break the rules on the first day of the 112th Congress in order to pass his audacious changes w...

A review of certain events of 2010
The Democrats want to bust the Filibuster because the Republicans have used it so much in blocking many of their plans. Yet they used it themselves quite often thwarting the goals former President George W. Bush. This tells us two things: the Democrats, once again, are hypocrites, and that those in power like to wield that power. The Filibuster is Constitutional, folks, under Article I. If we alter it at all,then we ought to go back to when the Senator speaking had to hold the floor and stay the...

10 to watch: Senators on energy
With Republicans controlling the House and ramping up Oversight and investigations of the Obama administration, focus at least initially in the next Congress will be on the Senate to lay a potential pathway for legislative Compromise on energy and environmental policy. “The Senate will set the energy agenda especially at the beginning,” said Paul Bledsoe, a senior adviser with the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Senate Democratic aide. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset ...

The Year In: Everything Else
This year started with a Democratic bust in the Special Election for Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts and ended with a Republican bang in the Midterm Elections. Democrats' electoral losses were in large part due to continued economic trouble. However, as long as Democrats continue to push their agenda and champion programs that alleviate economic woes, we see no reason Democrats' fortunes won't improve in two years. The Supreme Court may have changed American Elections for good when it wiped...

2011 Predictions
First, we must start with Baseball…as that is more important than anything else. There is not consensus amongst the Bearing Drift brethren. Kirwin, habitually, picks the Phillies. Big shocker from Krystle: The New York Yankees will come back stronger than ever with Jeter. Look for them to win the 2011 World Series (fingers crossed). [Not!] Then, of course, Leslie has to chime in: The healthy Red Sox will dominate the AL East, with a line-up that looks like this: Jacoby Ellsbury CF, Dustin...

Old Dogs Resisting New Dog Tricks
While less senior Democratic senators are pushing for Filibuster reform, Majority Leader Harry Reid is in talks with Mitch McConnell that could water down those reforms, Brian Beutler reports. ...

Harry 'Hypocrite' Reid changes the rules
Cover of The Good Fight IBD: The Senate Majority Leader has a plan to deal with Republican electoral success. When you lose the game, you simply change the rules. When you only have 53 votes, you lower the bar to 51. When Harry Reid was hawking his book "The Good Fight" on C-Span's "Book Notes" in 2008, he described how he had vehemently opposed GOP plans for the "Nuclear Option," changing the rules to break a Democratic Filibuster on President George W. Bush's judicial nominees. Only 51 votes...

Senator Wants Showdown on Filibuster Reform
Their majority dwindling, some Senate Democrats are planning a showdown on the first day of the new Congress over limiting Republicans' ability to hold up Legislation through Filibusters. More Video ...

Filibuster reform landmine
There are two major benefits that would come from the Merkley-Udall Senate Rule reform proposal: Filibuster reform. Biggest thing here is to shift the onus to maintain a filibuster onto the 41+ minority and away from the model of requiring 60 affirmative Cloture votes to limit debate. But also very significant here would be making the motion to proceed non-debatable and ending secret holds. Much has been written about this, I think these are positive improvements and while I would rather just...

The progressive benefits of rules reform
The campaign to reform Senate rules--most prominently those rules regarding the Filibuster--has undeniably been fueled in large part by Democratic frustration at our inability to pass more and better Legislation over the past two years. However, it must be admitted that the current reforms being discussed, making the filibuster real and reducing opportunities for obstruction on nominations, would not have altered the outcome of any of the major legislative fights of 2009-2010. Even if both chan...

Hail to the Chief: Spinning Obama's Presidency
New York Times writer Michael Shear added: "But Mr. Obama rejected an opportunity to gloat about the success of the past several weeks by declaring himself the 'comeback kid,' telling a reporter that the results are 'not a victory for me. It's a victory for the American People." A chorus of other media reports echoed the same sentiment, including USA Today citing a "political rebound," the Christian Science Monitor praising his notable legislative and other victories, and the Los Angeles Times...

Geraldine Hoff Doyle, inspiration for Rosie the Riveter, has died at 86
How are you going to keep Rosie's spirit alive? At 17, Geraldine Hoff Doyle took a job in an Ann Arbor, Michigan factory to do her part for the War Effort. She tied a red bandana around her hair, picked up a riveting gun, and showed other women coast to coast they could do their part and contribute on the Homefront while their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons went off to fight America’s enemies abroad. In 2010, we have a president in the White House who calls over 50% of the Amer...

Lawmakers chosen to draw Congressional boundaries
State legislative leaders on Thursday announced which lawmakers have been appointed to a special committee to redraw Congressional District boundaries. The 10-member committee will be co-chaired by Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial. The group is charged with meeting in all seven congressional districts and getting input from the public. The Bipartisan committee consists of five Democrats and five Republicans appointed by legislative leaders. Democrats control the ...

A Win for Obama and Democrats
It took arm twisting, deal making, and working right up until Christmas, but this Lame Duck Congress turned out to be one of the more productive ones in recent history. After seeing his popularity decline and his party get wallopped at the polls, Obama pulled out some legislative victories and managed to regain a little swagger before the new year. [See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.] Congress passed a Tax Cut package which extended the Bush-era tax cuts, while also extending unemploy...

Paging Mr. Smith! How The Senate May Return To The Old-School Filibuster
On January 5, 2011 -- the first day of the 112th Congress -- Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will touch of a long debate, which he hopes will result in a majority-rules vote on a package of meaningful changes to the Senate rules. After a series of private conversations with Democratic members, he and his allies have settled upon a framework including three distinct reforms designed to unclog the Senate and scale back the minority's power. The consensus package will aim to put an end to "secret holds" (a...

Movement Afoot To End Lame Duck Sessions Of Congress
The Lame Duck session of Congress is in the books, with many touts lauding the post-election period of congresspersons actually doing things as the most productive Lame Duck ever. This sort of glosses over the fact that a lot of the sexier things that passed -- the ratification of the START Treaty, health benefits for 9/11 First Responders, and the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- were wildly popular with the public and should have been considered "no-brainers." Plus, everyone got a Tax Cut,...

Weekly Mulch: How to Avoid Fracking and Oil Spills in 2011
by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger 2010 was a disappointing year for Environmentalists. This was the year Congress was supposed to pass Climate Change Legislation, but each and every time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed on the verge of pushing the bill forward, the effort fell short. In April, off the coast of Louisiana, the Deepwater Horizon explosion led to one of the worst Environmental Disasters in the country’s history, and in the aftermath, neither President Barack ...

Esquire: All About Harry Reid, the Man Who Wasn't Supposed to Win
Mark Warren takes a step back in Esquire and looks at the origins of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's power -- and how he pulled off the Reelection race in Nevada that prognosticators thought early on he might lose. From a scene at a pre-election rally with the Democrat known as "Landslide Harry": He is a famously dull speaker. He has a thin voice, a hunched manner, and is given to mild, even banal language. But not today. He was going through his Speech, which he had printed out on two litt...

Top N.J. Democrats say group tied to Christie skirted pay-to-play law
TRENTON - Some New Jersey lawmakers have called for the cancellation of state contracts with contributors to Reform Jersey Now, a political organization tied to Gov. Christie that released its list of Donors this week after months of criticism that it lacked transparency. Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D., Union) accused the organization of skirting the state's pay-to-play law, which bars firms that receive more than $17,500 in sta...

Recess Appointments and Filibuster Reform
I’m delighted that President Obama used his Recess Appointment power for several key administration posts (and the government printer - WTF?).  He should do it more often, and I suspect will have occasion to if Senate Republicans continue the most egregious abuse of the chamber’s rules in US history. But there is a way out of this mess, which really should not be a partisan issue — really.  That is to end the Filibuster for Executive Branch appointment...

A Stark Contrast: Obama vs. the GOP on American Exceptionalism Video
Here is a video montage of comments showing the stark contrast between President Obama and GOP Leaders on “American Exceptionalism.” By his own words, Obama does not think America is any more “exceptional” that Greece or Great Britain or any other country. In his world, there is an equivalency between the history and actions of the United States and that of other nations. But the statements of GOP Leaders demonstrates the massive divide in conviction. Conservatives beli...

Saving the Senate from itself (Rep. Jim McDermott)
This month's tax deal starkly illustrates the enormous power wielded by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In fact, his role confirms our government is not operating as a Democracy ruled by the will of the majority, but as a strangled entity tightly in the grasp of the Senate Republican minority and its take-no-prisoners minority leader. For the last 23 months, this country has been stymied by Senator McConnell and his cohorts through their abuse of the Filibuster in the United States Sen...

Could there be a negotiated settlement on Senate rules reform?
Brian Beutler at TPMDC raises the specter of a Compromise negotiated by the Bipartisan leadership that would water down the popular reform proposals: A handful of junior Democrats, including Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), have done an impressive job building momentum for a package of modest, but meaningful, changes to the Senate's Filibuster rules. But their plan could be completely upended and replaced by even more modest reforms, if Democratic and Republican leaders successfu...

No More Mister Nice Blog
THE Senate'S ARBITRARY "HIGHER STANDARD" IS UNDEMOCRATIC AND KIND OF SILLY Apparently it's Right Wing Concern Trolling Week here, as Jennifer Rubin becomes the latest maven to scold the left, this time on the subject of Senate Filibuster reform. Those planning on tinkering with Senate rules are well advised to do some serious thinking about the Unintended Consequences of their desire to give the Senate majority more power. So long as McConnell, 46 other Republicans and a slew of nervous red sta...

Answering progressive fears about filibuster reform
The window to change Senate rules opens just one week from now, on January 5th. With that date rapidly approaching, at Daily Kos we are stepping up our efforts to support rules reform with a variety of actions over the next week. You can join those efforts now by signing our petition to make the Filibuster a real filibuster. Based on comments I have seen on blogs and Social Networking sites, there is still some trepidation among Progressives about the campaign to reform Senate rules. Here are ...