(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
In December 2012, the Wonkblog ran a story about the laws that would have passed the 111th and 112th Congress were it not for the filibuster. The House passed-or was considering-a number of bills that would have benefited the middle class and excited Democratic voters, but those bills were killed by “moderate” Democrats in the Senate. When liberals decried the practice of threatening to filibuster one’s own party, “pragmatic” Democrats said that we had to take what we could get and let the moderates do what they needed to protect their seats.
The public option. Climate change legislation. The DREAM Act. The Employee Free Choice Act.
Imagine the world in 2014 if Democrats had managed to pass these bills. But we couldn’t because we had the protect the “moderate” Democrats from the red states. What happened to those moderate Democrats?
Mark Begich (D-Alaska)? Defeated
Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas)? Defeated
Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas)? Defeated
Joe Liberman (ID-Connecticut)? Quit
Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)? Quit
Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)? Soon to be defeated
Max Baucus (D-Montana)? Quit
Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska)? Quit
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)? Quit
Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota)? Quit
Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)? Quit
Those of you who shout “We can’t pass Democratic laws if we don’t win elections” need to considering rephrasing this statement. “We can’t win elections if we don’t pass Democratic laws.”
2 comments
The results speak for themselves.
Will they learn the right lesson?
No. They never do. Clap louder. Punch hippies.
When Hill comes along with that 3rd way crap again, they will be ever so surprised that the enthusiasm is shallow.
Who could have predicted?
But they sure are fracking slow learners. And here I thought Republicans were stupid…