Opinion: That fabled filibuster-proof majority? Show me.
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
I’m sorry if I’m late to this party, but I can’t help it. I have to say this.
All the brow-smiting and hand-wringing over the loss of a filibuster-proof majority for the Democrats in the Senate -- what a paper tiger!
It’s time to call the Senate’s bluff. It’s not enough to threaten a filibuster. Make them deliver.
Make them actually stand in the well of the Senate and talk. And talk. And talk. Until their knees buckle. Until their bladders blow up. They can read Martha Stewart’s recipes or the prophecies of Nostradamus or recite the periodic table until the cows come home -- I don’t care. Just make sure that the filibuster is not a hollow threat but an actual and real event. Call C-SPAN. Hook up the viewer-meter.
Guarantee that when someone in the Senate brings out the threats and starts talking ‘’filibuster’’ that they’re ready to follow through and do it. No mercy. No chamber pots. Strom Thurmond hated the civil rights bill so much that he filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes to stop it. He prepared his body and his mind to the task. Someone even waited in the Senate cloakroom with a bucket, in case his bowels or bladder got the better of his politics.
That’s the way it’s done. Filibuster? Sure, bring it on. We’ll be getting a little shut-eye; wake us when you cry ‘’uncle.’’
-- Patt Morrison
