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Seriously?
Megan McArdle on Specter switching to the Democrats:
On the other hand, I remember when that savvy political prognosticator, Jim Jeffords, sealed the doom of the Republican Party in the Senate. I hope that Specter has better sense than Jeffords in titling his next self-serving autobiography.
Because, you understand, absolutely nothing happened after Jeffords' switch in May of 2001 that may have significantly altered the political landscape, of which Jeffords was clearly an idiot for not predicting.
Seriously?
Update: Jesus Christ. Is this shit contagious?
Look, I realize that this arbitrary count of 60 Democratic senators doesn't actually mean a lot legislatively, because they aren't marching in lockstep on numerous important issues like EFCA and health care and judicial nominations. But this insane "we've got them right where we want them" whining from the right and the pseudo-libertarians sems desperate to imply that Democrats are inherently just as big a pile of screw-ups as Republicans, so naturally they're going to crash and burn just as badly as... umm... they did.
It's like a bunch of arsonists telling firemen as they rush into a building "you guys suck. That building is totally on fire."
"Blocks"
For those who don't know, here's what budget reconciliation is: basically, you can't filibuster bills in the Senate related to the budget. So if you decide that a piece of legislation is relevant to the budget, it only needs 50 votes to pass. Republicans used this technique several times when they were last in control of the Senate, so as you can imagine, that Democrats are now planning on using means they of course think it's an affront to democracy. Because you fucking elect children to run the country.
In even shorter terms, here's what's happening in Congress now: Republicans are refusing to work with Democrats to do anything. Democrats have a method to do things without needing Republicans to work with them on it. Republicans are now mad that Democrats aren't working with them after they refused to work with them. Because, as I believe I just noted, you fucking elect children to run the country.