The Republicans Didn't Need Scott Brown For Their Obstructionism After All-- They Already Had Blanche Lincoln And Ben Nelson

Last week, I mentioned that the 60-vote cloture vote to override the Republican filibuster of President Obama's nomination of Patricia Smith would probably be the last time that would ever happen, at least in the current conservative-dominated Senate. I warned, at the time, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other far right special interest groups were gunning for another Obama nominee, Craig Becker, slated to become a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which is charged (since it was created by FDR in 1934) with overseeing elections for labor unions and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Conservatives-- basically all Republicans plus a handful of reactionary Democrats-- are hostile to working people organizing to protect their interests and object when any advocates for working people are appointed to the board that was set up to protect them! Beck, a distinguished Yale graduate and an educator, has been practicing labor law and advocating for low wage workers for almost three decades. He is an associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union.

Obama nominated him on July 9 (along with two others, one of whom is a Senate Republican staffer, Brian Hayes) and all three were given the thumbs up by the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 3 months later. Although the 3 nominees were part of a bipartisan package, McCain, who is bending over backwards to placate fringe extremists in Arizona who are determined to deny him re-election, put a hold on Becker. The GOP decided to give their newest member, Scott Brown (R-MA) and opportunity to show his disdain for working families by joining his first ritual filibuster yesterday. Late in the afternoon, Reid called for a cloture vote to shut down the filibuster. Brown joined the rest of the obstructions in his party-- all of them-- to vote no. And every Democrat present voted yes-- except two anti-union, anti-working family shills of Big Business, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. The Senate failed to break the filibuster 52-33, 15 members away because of the inclement weather. It was very odd today that Harold Meyerson blames the loss of the imaginary 60 vote filibuster-proof majority for the death of EFCA and the defeat of Craig Becker and doesn't even mention Blanche or Ben's perfidy!

I wonder what unions think, especially the ones that have contributed $800,000 to Nelson's senator career and the ones who have given Blanche Lincoln $580,000 since she was first elected to Congress. I wonder what it will take for unions to start learning their lesson about donating their members' dues to anti-worker Blue Dogs and ConservaDems like Lincoln and Nelson. Lincoln had already rewarded Labor for their support over the years by effectively killing Employee Free Choice when she publicly declared last year-- at a Chamber of Commerce meeting-- that she would join the Republican Party filibuster of EFCA. That's part of the reason Lincoln's approval ratings have dipped to the lowest of any member of the Senate and why it is considered virtually impossible for her to be re-elected to any statewide office in Arkansas, where she is absolutely reviled by all sides. This most recent vote is viewed as a naked play for her post-Senate career as a lobbyist for Big Business. Nelson isn't up for re-election in 2010 and he feels safe to anger Democrats whenever he likes-- which is almost always. He votes with the GOP on close substantive issues more frequently than he votes with Democrats and he's universally considered the worst Democrat in the Senate. This is how the AFL-CIO characterized Nelson's decision Monday night when he had announced that he would join the Republicans in not allowing Becker to have a straight up-or-down vote:

Senator Ben Nelson’s decision to join a Republican filibuster against President Obama’s nomination of Craig Becker to the NLRB is a shame and disappointment. Should he follow through with this decision, Senator Nelson will be leaving working families at a major disadvantage for fair justice in the workplace without a fully staffed NLRB. Furthermore, he will be defying the same principles he adhered to while facing President Bush appointees.
 
Senator Nelson’s decision to put politics over the needs of working families is exactly the Washington politics as usual the American public is tired of. Our country needs leaders who are willing to put the interests of working families over politics and corporate influence.
 
The Republicans accusing Democrats of trying to rush Becker’s nomination through are the same Republicans who have stalled his nomination for over five months. It’s time to give working families the support they need and deserve.

Facing President Bush’s nominations to the Supreme Court in 2005, Nelson authored an OpEd in the Omaha World-Herald where he stated, “The president's nominees…deserve an up-or-down vote, even if the nominee isn't popular with the special-interest groups in Washington.” Nelson also stated that “[Nebraskans] want the president to appoint and the Senate to confirm a ‘good judge’ and, in the process, to avoid labels and resist litmus tests.”

Next week the Senate will be in recess and President Obama will have an opportunity to make recess appointments to the positions clowns like McCain and Shelby (not to mention Nelson and Lincoln) have been blocking. I can't image he'll follow through on his recent threats to do it though. I doubt it because he's still looking for a kind of "bipartisanship" that clueless independent voters say they want, bipartisanship that, as Rachel Maddow put it last night, would be harder to attain with the Republican obstructionists than teaching a dog to drive a car. I hope someone gives Obama this tape of Rachel from last night's show so he can watch what Republicans are worth in terms of his increasingly absurd efforts to bring them into governance. If you missed it, it's worth sticking with it to the very end: