Mitch McConnel Filibusters himself..I was hoping this was from The Onion

Check it out.. i know its on the DailyKOS.. but it is video straight from the Senate floor.. unbaised.. uncut.. unaltered... he better stop that or he will go blind

 

Wow.. I thought this was insane, I suppose it's just good politics in the States nowadays.

 

There's already like a 10 page thread on this.

What happened was that McConnell used a well established Senate procedure that's only used to get an idea where the voting stands, it never goes for an up and down vote. Harry Reid saw an opportunity to break from a very commonplace practice and put McConnell on the spot forcing him to filibuster. He never expected anyone to actually vote on this. The procedure may be a bit squirrly but both sides do it as a way to measure support for a bill, they never ever are forced to actually follow through with it.

Reid is doing nothing but playing petty politics with well established Senatorial procedure and making a mockery of the Senate.

 

---Thanks for clearing that up. I thought it odd too, but it makes sense now.

 

I call bullcrap here.

McConnell wanted this vote to happen because he didnt think Reid had the votes, and so he wanted this to go forward so Reid would be defeated on the floor.

when he realized that Reid DID have the votes, he had to backtrack and eat his own words. ( and he DID call for a vote on that bill THAT DAY. He ASKED for it. Proceadural or not, those words came out of his mouth. Only to later have to retract it because he knew he put himself in an unwinnable position. He was TRYING to make Reid look like a moron ( as if Reid needs any help ) and instead made himself the laughing stock of the United States Government.

 

No its a standard procedure used in the Senate all the time. Yes they can be called on it but they never are, its just a procedural motion. Its like a set tradition at your work that doesn't necessarily follow the rules but everyone does it for efficency then all of a sudden you get called out on it for not doing it the proper way when its been done this way for years.

Its similar to the filibuster and how they no longer have to stand there and speak for hours, the simple threat of it is taken as credible and they move on to other business. Its something the Senate has developed over years to save time and they have many many of these little things they do. For Harry Reid to single out McConnell this time is nothing but playing politics.

 

Ah the Conservative leadership: the weepy beta-male in the House and Yertle the Turtle in the Senate with his head planted firmly up his own ass.

 

This was also precedence in U.S. Congressional history ...


Mitch McConnell makes congressional history with insanity


http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/12/06/odonnell-rewrites-mcconnells-filibuster-against-his-own-bill/


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was for his bill before he was against it ... in seconds.

Looking to prove Democrats don’t have enough support to change how the government deals with the debt ceiling–a disputed point in the larger fiscal cliff fight–the top Republican senator pulled a risky move… and failed.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell did a play-by-play of Mitch McConnell’s filibuster “stunt” on Thursday’s Rewrite segment on The Last Word, calling it “the most idiotic thing any minority leader has ever done on the Senate floor.”


McConnell asked for a vote on legislation he brought up last year as a “last-choice option” which would give the president the ability to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling unless Congress got a two-thirds majority to stop him.

Calling his bluff, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to vote on it, whereby Mitch McConnell changed his mind and filibustered his own bill.


O’Donnell declared McConnell made history for two reasons.

“One–a minority leader who has introduced a bill and asked for a vote, then opposing proceeding to a vote on his bill saying his bill should be subjected to the filibuster breaking vote threshold of 60 votes,” he said.

“And miracle number two was that the presiding officer, played that hour by Sen. Claire McCaskill, the presiding officer who is usually in a struggle to stay awake in the most boring assignment a senator can get, presiding over the Senate–a punishment normally reserved for the junior-most senators–the presiding officer is not only wide awake, she actually comments on what has just happened instead of simply issuing the normal to and three word traffic directions that the presiding officer is limited to.”


Video Inside ~ Check-out McConnells' own constituent in the back saying WTF ?

 

I appreciate your taking time to explain this... BUT... even Claire McCaskill did a double take , expressing real honest surprise at the events unfolding before her as the Minority leader harpooned his own bill. If this was common practice i don't think that McCaskill is such a noob that she couldn't maintain her composure and professional demeanor.

I find it hard to believe that being a bunch of duplicitous snakes , politicians at that level would trust the opposing side to observe a code of honor that would restrict them from exploiting such a vulnerable position.

This event exposes the blind partisanship expressed by Americans in trying to rationalize the irrational behavior of their chosen "team". It is done as much by the so called "Left" as the self proclaimed "Right".

This kind of attitude and acceptance of the status quo serves only the political elite and top .5% . Low level millionaires and on down are not part of the "Team"... they are just cattle... that are happy to push the pig's.. who are happy to push the sheep into the slaughterhouse. Right now the sheep are screaming bloody murder.. when there are no more sheep, it will be the pigs turn ( I'm looking at you HBSURFER) and they will scream like the sheep and so on until the REAL "Team" members chuckle at a game well played and move on to more profitable schemes..

 

This is why it was so shocking. Both sides do this all the time and nobody thinks twice about it so for it actually to be called out is unheard of. All Harry Reid accomplished was ending a procedure that technically saves the Senate time (now they will have to vote on every single thing) for fear of being put on the spot.

As if the Senate doesn't move slow enough to begin with.

 

That doesn't make sense. If you want to figure out where the voting stands, send one of your many overpaid staffers or unpaid interns to run around and ask people.

I'm no defender of Harry Reid, but McConnell was the one playing politics here. He wanted the Senate to go on record defeating a bill to eliminate the [unnecessary] debt ceiling. What a tool.