They seem to be having a real problem with 'fuzzy math' in the Senate these days. Consider today's news about the defeat of the Dems' Iraq funding bill:

Senate GOP Blocks $50B War Funding Package
Measure Would Have Required Bush to Begin Iraq Troop Withdrawals
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 16, 2007; 11:44 AM

Senate Republicans blocked the latest Democratic effort to end the Iraq war, rejecting a $50 billion funding package that would require President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.
The 53-45 vote fell seven short of the 60 votes needed for the measure to clear Republican procedural hurdles (...)"
http://www.washingtonpost.com

It's not made clear in news media accounts that I've seen, but apparently the Dems simply abandoned the process of going forward with the bill, though the GOP didn't formally start a filibuster. After all, we're told by the press, and even by some so-called "progressive" commentators like a certain guy over at Talking Points Memo, that it takes 60 votes to pass stuff, because that's the number it takes to end a filibuster in a vote for 'cloture.' Don't have 60 votes in the Senate, can't pass anything! Right?

So why was this 'standard' for passing bills COMPLETELY DIFFERENT last week when Mukasey's confirmation vote came up?

"Mukasey Wins Vote in Senate, Despite Doubts
By CARL HULSE, New York Times, November 9, 2007

The Senate confirmed Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night, approving him despite Democratic criticism that he had failed to take an unequivocal stance against the torture of terrorism detainees.
The 53-to-40 vote made Mr. Mukasey, a former federal judge, the third person to head the Justice Department during the tenure of President Bush . . . Thirty-nine Democrats and one independent [Bernie Sanders] opposed him (...)"
http://www.nytimes.com

There happened to be four more Dem senators who had publicly affirmed their opposition to Mukasey's confirmation, all of whom are currently running for president, so potentially, there would be 44 votes against him. There's only 100 members of the Senate, with the VP as a potential tie-breaker, so if those 44 opponents held, the GOP couldn't have passed a 'cloture' measure. So why wasn't the Mukasey confirmation abandoned by the Republicans in the same way the Dems have abandoned their Iraq bill?

One answer would be, because a lot of those initial Dem votes against Mukasey would cave in under pressure, while the Republicans, in the case of the Iraq bill, would not. That's bad enough, but I think the situation is actually worse than that. Looks to me like the Beltway gang, GOP and Dems along with the media, are just shucking the public with a ridiculous double standard for the two parties on filibusters, and apparently they expect us not to notice. Last week I cited Glenn Greenwald's case along this line, and given the occasion, I might as well do so again:

"(...) Over and over again this year, Republican filibusters were depicted (both by Senate Democrats and the media) as nothing more the routine need to obtain the "60 votes required" for passage of any measure in the Senate. That "requirement" was said to apply to everything, including immigration ("The Senate voted 52-44 for the DREAM Act, but 60 votes were required to end debate"); Iraq withdrawal timetables ("Support is expected to top 50 votes but fall short of the 60 required"); troop leave requirements ("Webb's Iraq bill inches closer to 60 . . . . Winning at least three of those Republicans over could give the Democrats the 60 votes they need"); and warrantless surveillance ("Democratic-sponsored bill failed to reach the 60-vote majority").
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/11/09/filibuster/index.html

Pathetic, isn't it? "Spineless," some say? I wonder if spinelessness isn't the Dems' cover for corruption.  

--Last edited by Pete on 2007-11-16 18:02:52 --

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Get as many people to make these phone calls.

Call GOP contributor and war contractor General Electric Corporation at 203 373 2211 and ask for the public relations department. Tell the person in public relations that you want the GE CEO to get Bush to end the war in Iraq and then Bush resign with Cheney and until that happens you will not buy any GE products and that you will tell your friends about this.

Call GOP contributor Rite Aid at 1-800-325-3737 and tell the person to get the CEO to get the GOP to enact HR 676 Single payer health care and repeal Medicare Part D and place the drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80% of drugs with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and remove the means test for Medicare Part B and until that happens, you won't buy ANYTHING from Rite Aid.

Call GOP contributor Wendy's restaurants at 614 764-3553 and Tell the person in public relations that you want their CEO to get the GOP to help enact a $10/HR MIN. WAGE into law and until this happens you will not go to a Wendy's Restaurant.



I have started a new political party called the Liberal Democratic Party of the United States. You can read the web page at http://www.dmocrats.org and you will find that  this party works differently from other political parties. Take a look and help enact progressive legislation and end the war where you work as a legislator and you vote on legislation.