Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Ball Is In Your Court, Democrats

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February 17, 2006

Ball Is In Your Court, Democrats - the Rest of the Story

Hatched by Dafydd

Way, way back last week, I noted that, with the return of Republicans to the fold on the Patriot Act extension, the Democrats would be unable to sustain a filibuster in the Senate -- despite the fact that more than the required number of Democrats voted against cloture on December 16th. They needed 41; they got 43 two months ago.

That was then; this is now. Yesterday, the Senate took another cloture vote; and in fact, Reid's Raiders did far worse than even I predicted. In the original Ball Is In Your Court, Democrats, I wrote:

My prediction: one by one by one, Democrats will start announcing that they're going to vote for cloture; and the moment three have done so, the whole idea of a filibuster will be quietly dropped. Reid will proclaim that it would be futile, and a flood of Democrats will announce that they're against filibustering such an important bill.

But then at the actual vote, 25 Democrats will vote against cloture... including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Vista del Cowardly), after Cindy Sheehan threatens to re-enter the race she actually didn't enter the first time (and she'll once again misspell the senator's name).

But according to the Washington Times (hat tip to Power Line), the total number of senators who voted against cloture on Thursday was -- drum roll -- three. All Democrats, of course.

So after a few minor tweaks that everyone, Democratic and Republican, agreed were largely "cosmetic," forty Democrats jumped and swam for their lives, leaving only filibuster king Russell Feingold (D-WI), 154 year old Sen. Robert Byrd (D-Cuckooland)... and of course Jumpin' Jim Jeffords (I-VT), marking one of the few times a rat has been caught swimming towards a sinking ship.

Congratulations, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Las Vegas), for giving us the most effective TV commercial of the upcoming campaign -- for the Republicans. That clip of Reid pumping his fist in the air, to the wild ululations of the Democratic mob, as the minority leader shrieks "we killed the Patriot Act!" will surely live on and on and on... until long after everyone has forgotten why the Patriot Act was enacted in the first place.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, February 17, 2006, at the time of 5:46 PM

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» Iraqi Army More Cohesive Than Democratic Senators from Big Lizards
I'll bet you thought we'd totally forgotten about this category here at Big Lizards; or else you might have fretted that there wasn't any "good news" to be found. Not so! The only reason we haven't done one of these... [Read More]

Tracked on February 17, 2006 11:26 PM

» Bride of Ball Is In Your Court, Democrats: the Final Cut from Big Lizards
Away back earlier, on February 9th, we posted Ball Is In Your Court, Democrats, in which we discussed the final vote on cloture for the renewal of the Patriot Act. Recall that the first time, four Republican senators -- Larry... [Read More]

Tracked on March 1, 2006 4:39 AM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Testing...testing...testing.

Sorry, just testing to see if humble me has been banned from Big Lizards...

Testing...testing...testing.

Swabbie Ed, what do you think???

Karmic Wink

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at February 17, 2006 6:58 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

KarmiCommunist:

Why would you think you've been banned from BL? I only banned one person in this blog's entire existence (all five months of it)... and at that, I think everybody else wanted him gone long before I finally got fed up and made him an unperson.

I don't even remember his name; it was months ago.

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at February 17, 2006 9:52 PM

The following hissed in response by: radarbinder

"and of course Jumpin' Jim Jeffords (I-VT), marking one of the few times a rat has been caught swimming towards a sinking ship."

Another well-aimed jab!

The Dems really are self-destructing, it is awesome and wonderful to watch!

The above hissed in response by: radarbinder at February 17, 2006 11:15 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

Radarbinger:

(Pssst... actually, I stole the line from Winston Churchill. But don't tell anyone!)

Dafydd "Joe Biden Wannabe" ab Hugh

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at February 17, 2006 11:30 PM

The following hissed in response by: hunter

REmember how so many had written off the Prez as a lame duck, with no mandate, no power?
REmember how the dims were bragging about having killed the Patriot Act?
Too laugh out loud- this is so cool

The above hissed in response by: hunter at February 18, 2006 4:58 PM