Another Republican Party Filibuster Goes Down In Smoke-- So Why Do They Do It?

For some reason, no one wants to say aloud the obvious: that the Republican congressional delegation, under the leadership of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, is consciously trying to sabotage the economy for their own partisan reasons. They want unemployment to rise because they think it a disastrous continuation of the Bush/GOP economic calamities will help elect more Republicans in November. They want reforms to fail because they believe pain and suffering in the country will make voters want to throw out the Democrats, even while Republicans trade their anti-reform votes for campaign contributions from special interests determined to keep their predatory practices vaguely legalistic.

In the Senate the unprecedented filibustering of every single nomination and every single bill is a manifestation of the inherently racist underpinning of the GOP's rock-bottom belief that Barack Obama, despite being overwhelmingly elected, is not-- cannot be-- a legitimate President of the United States of America. This, of course, is one of the motivating factors of the Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh crowd's anger and nihilism. Their world crumbles at the concept of a black First Family. And the party that is catering to these Know Nothings has turned itself into the Party of No-- to everything.

Yesterday, Harry Reid started down the path of cleaning out the build-up in their stable of frivolous filibusters. He called for a cloture vote to end the filibuster of Lael Brainard to a position in the Treasury Department, an area of government the Waterloo Party is particularly eager to see undermanned and unable to do its job effectively. She was nominated just over one year ago and the GOP has prevented her-- with no attempt at any justification whatsoever-- from doing her job. This kind of sabotage hasn't happened in this country since before the Civil War.

Once Reid got the vote up before the Senate the only die hard obstructionists willing to publicly vote against her were 10 extremists with no respect for America and no respect for their own constituents who they judge to be too simpleminded to see through their tactics. Even radical obstructionist Richard Burr (R-NC), petrified that Elaine Marshall will get the Democratic nomination and pulverize him in November, voted to shut down the debate. The fanatics who refused to budge:

John Barrasso (R-WY)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
John Ensign (R-NV)
Mike Enzi (R-WY)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
David Diapers Vitter (R-LA)

The vote was 84-10. This week Reid will deal with another four nominees being obstructed for no particular reason: Christopher Schroeder, of NC, to be an Assistant Attorney General and three judicial nominees, Thomas Vanaskie, Denny Chin, and Marisa Demeo. Except in Demeo's case the Republican Party really does have a reason for opposing her, one that goes the very heart of modern Republicanism: pure bigotry. One of the GOP front groups, the Traditional Values Coalition, a traditional DC Hate Group, insists that Demeo can't be a judge because she's a lesbian:

As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws... Demeo's radical lesbianism, anti-marriage, anti-national security views are dangerous to our nation. She should not be confirmed to the DC Superior Court.

Judge Vic Rawl offers another side of South Carolina, distinctly different from DeMint's and, in fact, he's running for the Senate seat currently being occupied by DeMint. He doesn't believe in obstructing judicial nominations based on hatred, bigotry and a narrow partisan agenda. This morning he told us that “This sort of hatred has no place in America. Speaking as a former judge, challenging a nominee’s credentials on any basis other than their actual judicial qualifications is dead wrong, and this is just another power grab by DeMint and the radical Republicans to control the independent third branch of government. And it’s important to note that the negative term 'activist judges' is far more applicable to Republican nominees of late that to Democratic ones.” Yes, we know what DeMint and his allies are trying to accomplish; but... what would Jesus say? You think the Traditional Values Coalition ever thinks about that?


UPDATE: More Mindless, Obstructionist GOP Judicial Filibusters Announced Today

This time the culprit is Kyl (R-AZ), a real racist piece of work. It was interesting that Burr (R-NC) went right along with Kyl on this. They're holding up these five nominees for no reason at all:

* Albert Diaz, of North Carolina, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit
* James A. Wynn, Jr., of North Carolina, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit
* Nancy D. Freudenthal, of Wyoming, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Wyoming
* Denzil Price Marshall Jr., of Arkansas, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas
* Timothy S. Black, of Ohio, to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio


UPDATE TWO: Today's Big Losers: Senate Republican Obstructionists

After winning the cloture vote on Brainard last night, Harry Reid brought up the motion to confirm this afternoon. Only 19 of the most extremist Republican fanatics voted against conformation, which passed 78-19. The "no" votes included Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), John Thune (R-SD) and David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), all of whom are up for re-election in November.

With the successful vote, all major Treasury offices are now filled, more than 14 months after Obama arrived at the White House.

Democratic lawmakers have argued that Republicans are delaying a historically large number of administration officials, preventing the federal government from implementing much of Obama's agenda.

Brainard will play a key role on issues such as the delicate negotiations with China over the level of the yuan, and seeking international cooperation on the restructuring of the financial sector's regulatory framework.

"At this critical time for our global economic agenda, Lael's leadership will help bolster our partnerships abroad and increase economic opportunity for Americans here at home," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday.