That old Kluxer Robert Byrd tols us some time back that the filibuster was a sacred thing -- positively a sacrament when Democrats used it to obstruct qualified conservative judges and civil rights legislation protecting uppity black folks from the likes of him. His Democrat colleagues and their fellow-travelers all agreed. That's why I find Kevin Drum's whining to be so amusingly hypocritical.

.I see that Republicans have successfully filibustered two more bills today: one to give a House seat to the District of Columbia (57-42) and one to restore habeas corpus rights to terrorism suspects (56-43).

That seems like a good excuse to rerun this chart that McClatchy put together a couple of months ago. As you can see, Republicans aren't just obstructing legislation at normal rates. They're obstructing legislation at three times the usual rate. They're absolutely desperate to keep this stuff off the president's desk, where the only choice is to either sign it or else take the blame for a high-profile veto.

The GOP blocked two bad bills -- one of them clearly unconstitutional. But even if these bills were pure as the driven snow, Drum and his ilk insisted in the last couple of years that the filibuster was an important tool in the American political system when used against the GOP. How can they complain now when Republicans use it to frustrate the least popular Congress ever?

Posted by: Greg at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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