Democrats Launch Senate War

Reid uses ‘nuclear option’ to block GOP [Votes]

by Stephen Dinan - October 6th, 2011 - The Washington Times

In a move that threatened to calcify an already dysfunctional Senate, Democrats on Thursday voted to change chamber precedent, in effect rewriting the rules to ban a work-around Republicans had used to force votes even when the Democrats in the majority didn’t want to hold them.

Things got so heated that all sides agreed they needed a cooling-off period, and they suspended business for the rest of this week, promising to return Tuesday and try to repair what appeared to be lasting damage to the comity and relationships critical to the functioning of the upper chamber.

The move was similar to the “nuclear option” Republicans had threatened to use to end filibusters of then-President George W. Bush’s judicial nominations six years ago, which was averted in a bipartisan deal.

“We have changed the rules of the Senate,” said an angry Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican, as he and fellow Republicans excoriated Democrats for using the backdoor method.

I do not understand why Republicans are surprised at this move. It is only Republicans who care about "comity". Democrats never care. They simply demand that Republicans adhere to such decorum. Then again comity has never really helped anyone except the fence sitting moderates. So those of us who believe it is time to stop losing our nation may finally get a chance to fight back.

I think that the extremists who are currently trying to overthrow our government with their riots are going to change this election in a dramatic way. I am simply not willing to predict that the MSM cannot make that impact a negative one for our nation. This fight is providing the rioters with encouragement.