CT Blue

The last time I checked (actually, I never checked, but I’m pretty sure I’m right) Harry Reid is even older than Joe Biden, yet Harry seems fully capable, even in his senescence, of figuring out which way the wind is blowing. He has an Op-Ed piecein this morning’s New York Times advocating for an end to the filibuster. 

One thing Harry doesn’t point out, though it is there by implication, is that the filibuster has only been an effective tool for the Republicans, because for one reason or another, Democrats have failed to use it when they are in the minority. All the Republicans need do is lament about how unfair it is that their latest attempt to do damage is not at least getting a vote, and the Democrats, pressured by a compliant media (to which we must also add the Fox propaganda media), fold. When Bush was president, there was, in principle, a filibuster rule that the Democrats could have used to block judicial appointments, but for one reason or another they let Roberts and Alito get through with scarcely a whimper, while when Obama was president the Republicans blocked almost every judicial appointment until Reid abolished the filibuster for judicial appointments (excepting the Supreme Court). That largely didn’t work because Leahy, being the good accomodating Senator that he was, maintained the blue slip rule, that allowed any Senator to block a nominee from his or her state or circuitwhich Grassley promptly ditchedafter the Republicans took back the White House. That resulted in the appointment, by Obama, of some embarrassingly conservative judges.

Joe Biden, who is physically present in the 21st century, but whose mind dwells in the eighth decade of the 20th, feels it would be a dangerous move to end the filibuster. If a miracle occurs, and the Democrats manage to overcome their own ineptitude and the both-siderism of the media to take not only the White House, but the Senate, they will gain nothing if the filibuster is maintained. The Republicans will surge back to power by pointing to the fact that the Democrats have once again, (see, e.g. Obama kissing Susan Collin’s ass to get a weak stimulus package) failed to effectively address the horrible situation they inherited from the Republicans. 

As a side note, part of the both-siderism I’m talking about is the media’s interest in Joe Biden’s gaffes, which they are beginning to pound away at. Those gaffes will not be forgotten, whereas Trump’s racist statements, and those revealing the extent of his mental illness, will be reported once and then consigned to the memory hole. This is not new. See, e.g., the press coverage of Al Gore, in 2000, and also see, e.g., Hillary’s emails as opposed to Trump’s blatant criminality, in 2016. This is all of a piece with the treatment the Democrats received when they even breathed the possibility that they would filibuster something major. Immediately we learned how they were endangering the democratic process. With Republicans—well, that’s what they do, so where’s the news?