You might want to turn on C-SPAN 2, where Sen. Bernie Sanders, Socialist of Vermont, is holding the floor with a good old-fashioned filibuster on the tax bill.
Regardless of the merits of Mr. Sanders’ position on the bill, this is my favored brand of filibuster-reform: make Senators actually do it. You’d retain the Senate’s best counter-majoritarian feature but see it reserved only for the most important measures.
World's shortest filibuster?
C-SPAN is covering "Child Passenger Safety" at this moment.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI only hope he can keep it up for a couple of weeks.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNever mind...they rolled it to CSPAN-2. Landrieu is crying, now. Not literally. Yet.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is very interesting, Jonah...thanks for posting that.
Just watched Landrieu cite figures that the "median" (not "average") net worth for white households is $80k, for Hispanic households, $8k, and for black households $5k.
Sounds to me like the last two groups might want to stop blindly supporting Democrats. What has it done for them?
It reverted back to Sanders and he said something like, "Under Bush, the incomes of the top 400 (yes, 400) people doubled, but their tax rates halved."
That is stone-cold hilarious - that is a *BAD* thing? Government still got the same take, right? Meanwhile, those people still had more than twice the money to throw around. Or am I reading this incorrectly?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHa, ha. Not everyone who posts here is Jonah. C'mon, man!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis makes my afternoon. It's kind of like watching ice skating: best on mute and when someone falls over.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDan Foster - You democracy-choking SOB. How dare you call Bernie Sanders a "socialist." That's exactly the sort of extremist rhetoric that keeps us from making progress in this country. I hope No Labels succeeds in banning people like you from polite society.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWake me up when a Republican actually does what Sanders is doing, when it needs done.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHear, hear for the traditional filibuster!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Mitch Baker RE: "Ha, ha. Not everyone who posts here is Jonah. C'mon, man!"
Ouch. My apologies, Mr. Foster. Thanks, all the same. This is some entertaining stuff.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd if you allow rest room breaks, it's not a real filibuster. Squirm, buddy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBernie Sanders is actually a Democratic Socialist, which is distinctly different from being purely a Socialist.
Democratic Socialists do not want the government to seize private businesses. They simply believe the government's priority should be the middle and lower classes.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd here I was thinking that only Evil Republicans used the filibuster. Will Sanders be accused of being a terrorist for holding middle class tax cuts and unemployment benefits hostage in order to ensure a tax increase for top earners? Will Obama say that socialists' one and only economic principle is tax hikes for the rich?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe circle is now complete. All those years I trolled Jonah's posts and left him snide remarks, I was but the learner; now *I* am the master. #StarWarsReference
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDemocratic socialists are communists without the balls.
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