WHY DOESN'T HARRY REID LET THE PUBLIC SEE HOW McCONNELL AND THE REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONISTS KEEP THE GOVERNMENT FROM FUNCTIONING PROPERLY?

HURRY UP, HARRY!

Below is one of my favorite pieces of Adam-art depicting systemic Republican obstructionism. It is virtually all Mitch McConnell's pathetic career has come down to-- other than sucking up bribes from his Chinese Communist business associates. The vast majority of Americans have rejected the Cheney-Bush-Lieberman-McCain Stay the Course disaster they created in Iraq and we would like to see some constructive movement. Even longtime Bush backer Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has finally declared that she's had enough. "We have arrived at the crossroads of hope and reality, and we must now address the reality. We need to send a strong message from the United States Congress on behalf of the American people that the current strategy is unacceptable and that we must move in a different course." McConnell and almost all of her Republican colleagues refuse to allow that. Instead they just consistently object and threaten to filibuster. According to Snowe, "We are past non-binding resolutions..." but her colleagues won't allow even those to come up for a vote!

How can that happen? Well, rather than disrupt the Senate with endless filibusters from the dead enders like McConnell, Lieberman, Sessions, DeMint, Kyl, Graham, Cornyn, Reid allows a de facto filibuster that doesn't force them to stand up and go through all the rigors of filibustering, like the right-wing nuts before them used to do to try to prevent racial integration in the 60s. Instead, he calls for a cloture vote-- to shut down debate-- which needs 60 votes. Reid has 49 Democrats and there are now a small handful of Republicans who are too scared of losing their seats next year to play the obstructionist game anymore. He managed to assemble the Democrats plus the scared Republicans plus Snowe to come up with 56 votes to shut down (theoretical) debate on Iraq last week-- not enough.

So McConnell and the obstructionists carried the day and "Stay the Course"... stays the course. What can Reid do? For one thing he can make the bastards actually get off their fat asses and filibuster, just like their political antecedents-- Strom Thurmond, James Eastland, John McClellan, John Stennis, John Sparkman, Herman Talmadge-- did. This is strenuous and will graphically show the American people who is responsible for the death and destruction in Iraq and for the Senate's refusal to pass the progressive legislative agenda passed by the House.

Conservative Democrat Kent Conrad (ND) says there is a consensus forming among sane senators to
force the fanatic Republicans to do the physical filibuster.

Cenk: Exactly, that's a perfect situation. We're actually going to make you physically filibuster it. Go ahead and give speeches for 24 hours a day. We're removing the rule that out of politeness and courtesy that we don't make you do that anymore. We're going to have you go and read the phone book, and tell us how much you're against stem cells or the minimum wage, or for rest for the troops.

Senator Kent Conrad: Yeah, I think there's a growing consensus that we ought to do that...I think that we could do a better job making our points, and one part of that is to let the American people see just how obstructionist this Republican minority is being. The leader has had to file cloture now over 40 times already this year. And cloture, as you know, is a special procedure to stop debate, to stop filibusters, in order to reach conclusion on legislation. I had a Republican colleague tell me it is the Republican strategy to try to prevent any accomplishment of the Democratic Congress. That is set in their caucus openly and directly that they don't intend to allow Democrats to have any legislative successes, and they intend to do it by repeated filibuster.

Christy over at FDL speaks for millions of Americans who voted in 2006 when she demands that Reid do his job and force the serial obstructionists to show their hand in the light of day. If any of those millions are browsing DWT today, here's Harry Reid's phone numbers:
His DC office: 202-224-3542 and his Nevada office: 702-388-5020

Meanwhile Reid is agreeing to force an all-night Senate session tomorrow-- with cots and all. Iraq is too important to the American people to allow McConnell and his cronies to play their games. Reid:

"I would like to inform the Republican leadership and all my colleagues that we have no intention of backing down. If Republicans do not allow a vote on Levin-Reed today or tomorrow, we will work straight through the night on Tuesday. The American people deserve an open and honest debate on this war, and they deserve an up-or-down vote on this amendment to end it.

"Given the Republican leadership's decision to block the amendment, we have no choice but to do everything we can in the coming days to highlight Republican obstruction. We do this in hopes of ultimately getting a simple up-or-down vote on this and other important amendments that could change the direction of the war."

It's a first step but an uncomfortable Tuesday night isn't going to stop the escalation of war. This will take a lot more than one night. I like the way Chris Bowers frames it but Sham 69 get the point across too:




UPDATE: DURBIN PUTS REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONIST LEADER MISS McCONNELL (R-KY) IN HIS PLACE

Amato is getting ready to fly off to Chicago to hobnob with Dick Durbin and other non-Emanuel Illinois Democrats. He caught Durbin on video explaining to the treacherous obstructionists what is and what isn't a stunt. Take a look.