All We Want is an Up or Down Vote

The Carpetbagger documents that Mitch McConnell is using every procedure in the Senate arsenal to shut down the Senate. In the midst of the overwhelming evidence that Senator McConnell is a hypocrite, we get:

For literally years, Republicans, with a 55-seat majority, cried like young children if Dems even considered a procedural hurdle. They said voters would punish obstructionists. They said it was borderline unconstitutional. They said to stand in the way of majority rule was to undermine a basic principle of our democratic system. And wouldn’t you know it; the shameless hypocrites didn’t mean a word of it. Why hasn’t the Democratic Congress had greater success passing legislation in its first six months? Because 239 separate pieces of legislation have passed the House, only to find Senate Republicans “objecting to just about every major piece of legislation” that Harry Reid has tried to bring to the floor. It’s not only shameless, it’s cynical. Republicans expect to get away with this nonsense because they assume most Americans don’t even know what a filibuster is. They figure, the more they obstruct, the worse Congress looks — and with a Democratic majority, that means the GOP will blame Dems for the Republicans’ delay tactics. Indeed, it’s quite a vicious cycle. Dems bring up a bill … Republicans block the bill … Dems tell voters to be patient … Republicans blame Dems for failing to deliver on their policy agenda. And if Americans aren’t paying attention, they fall for the con.

This was posted the day before the immigration bill that President Bush wants to see passed couldn’t get past McConnell’s two-faced behavior. McConnell claims he supports this bill, but another dies for a lack of cloture as even Republicans who helped author the bill joined in on the fun of stabbing the supports in the back. But as Steve Benen notes, the press is going to blame Senator Reid and the Democrats. But Steve fires back:

Republicans may be accusing Dems of coming up short, but NBC viewers might benefit if they knew whether those accusations are accurate … Indeed, Senate Republicans – the ones accusing Dems of being a “do-nothing Congress” – are proud of their efforts. Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott boasted, “The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail. So far it’s working for us.”

So what is the next thing this President needs – besides that immigration bill, which of course his own party doomed? Funding for the Iraq War? Funding for anything else? A judicial nomination to get through the Senate? The Democrats should slow roll everything until Senator McConnell changes his tune. If this is the game the GOP leadership wants to play, I say shut down all functions of the Senate except those investigations of this corrupt White House. Full steam ahead with these – now that it’s clear that McConnell has decided to procedurely block everything that Reid is trying go get done.