Friday, February 12, 2010

How Many Times Did Republicans Filibuster In 2009

Answer - zero. But that didn't prevent Obama from telling one of his typically outrageous lies.

Today President Obama told Senate Democrats that they had faced “enormous procedural obstacles that are unprecedented..”

“You had to cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and 1960s combined. That’s 20 years of obstruction jammed into just one.”

13 Comments:

Blogger Jaci Lynn said...

How incredibly Republican of you - what is that a lie by omission, or by twisting the truth?

"Answer - zero"

Why not actually be honest in your blog and also point out that an ACTUAL filibuster is NOT necessary, only the THREAT of one.

Therefore Republicans never need to actually filibuster, and you can mislead your readers by saying "Answer - zero"

What really disgusts me the most about Republicans is tactics like this one. Is it SO impossible to make your case with the plain truth? If it is than your case is not worth making - and anyone who buys into it is ignorant.

9:29 AM  
Blogger Michael said...

You are permitted your own opinion, but not your own facts. There is a definition for the word "filibuster," and by that definition there were no filibusters. And besides, Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate. The Republicans did not have the votes to filibuster anything. Filibuster is what Democrats did all through the Bush years, including filibustering judicial nominations which was unprecedented.

9:35 AM  
Blogger Jaci Lynn said...

"Democrats HAD 60 seats in the Senate" and you must know VERY well that, that ended with the death of Ted Kennedy on 8/25/09.

Yes definitions - leave it to Republicans to use perversions of the truth to make their cases.

"We have crossed the mark of over 100 filibusters and acts of procedural obstruction in less than one year," Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said on the floor on December 20, 2009. "Never since the founding of the Republic, not even in the bitter sentiments preceding Civil War, was such a thing ever seen in this body."

It's true - Democrats used filibuster during Bush's presidency. I don't need to omit or twist the truth to make my point. Judicial nominees were filibustered. To me personally I see the possibility of overturning Roe vs Wade as the extreme type examples that filibuster was created for. Regardless of your opinion on that issue - one has to agree that it is something that many clearly hold as extremely important.

The number of times that Republicans have used filibuster threats /tactics in regards to trivial issues FAR exceeds Democrats use of filibuster in those circumstances.

One has to use common sense in defining an "extreme issue".
I guess we have already concluded though, that Republicans have a perverted sense of "sense" that is certainly not common when it comes to definitions.

The bottom line is that if rule 22 is not changed - filibuster is going to stalemate our government permanently. Democrats will use the same disgracing tactics on Republicans when their chance comes around if this is not stopped.

Instead of lying and misleading you should be thinking about the consequences this type of abuse will cause in the long term.

1:44 PM  
Blogger Michael said...

How many times did Republicans filibuster in 2009. The answer is still zero. Scott Brown was not elected and seated until 2010. The Republicans did not win a single cloture vote in 2009 and so there was no filibuster. Every cloture vote since Obama was elected passed.

3:03 PM  
Blogger Allen said...

Michael, I have no idea what you think you gain by obscuring the facts and playing word games. I am a former Republican. But Presient Nixon who had to resign, Spiro Agnew the Republican VP uneder Nixon, who had to resign, the ineffectiveness of President Geo. H.W. Bush, the weapons of mass destruction lies of Predident "Dubya" Bush and VP Dick Cheny, the pork queen Sarah Palin (do some research, Michael), former scandal ridden Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gigrich who had to resign his post, liars like former drug addicted, college dropout Glenn Beck, sex scandalized for sexual harassment Bill O'Reilly, college dropout and naysayer Sean Hannity, and ego maniac Rush Limbaugh all tell me that the Republicans are rotten to the core. Are you a bird of a feather who wants to be associated with that kind of trash? And by the way, under President Reagan, unemploymenty hit 9.3% and he didn't follow idiots like Bush -Cheney as Presient Obama has had to do. Reagan also set off record deficits and emptied mental instituions creting an explosion of homeless people. The internet is for research and not just mindless blogging. Try it sometime.
If you have any guts, you'll post this, but being the stauch Republican you are, I won't hold my breath.

3:12 AM  
Blogger Michael said...

I even publish comments from liars.

5:45 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

The hypocracy of the Democrats never ceases to amaze me. You made a simple statement of FACT. There was not ONE SINGLE filibuster used in 2009, and yet these people like Velocity3D have to twist and contort things in order to fit their belief system.

Velocity3D, your attempt to try and change the facts with your comment about how the supermajority "ended with the death of Ted Kennedy on 8/25/09" is as pathetic as it gets. YOU should know as well as anybody that Paul Kirk (D) filled Kennedy's seat and was casting votes up until Scott Brown was sworn in on February 24, 2010.

Would you like to make another attempt to explain how the Republicans could filibuster, real or threatened, the super majority the Democrats held for ALL of 2009?

And Allen, you are a Republican like Jesse MacBeth was an Army Ranger! Why do you Democrats/leftist always have to resort to lies to make their point?

12:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Seems like you're both right. Harry Reid refused to bring any cloture votes that he didn't know would pass so there were no actual filibusters in the true sense of the word that year. But it is absurd to say that the filibuster rule wasn't used constantly by Republicans to obstruct the work of congress. That is simply a lie on its face. And it is a lie typical of Republicans of this era. There are over 400 bills that have been approved by the House that couldn't get cloture in the Senate. The fact that Reid didn't bother to take the time to make the Republicans show their true colors is Reid's problem and the country's. It's that problem that allow people like you to mislead others with numbers. Like Mark Twain said, "Figures never lie, but liars can always figure..." Michael, you're a sleazebag.

5:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michael, you should at least research your lies before you spew them. There were at least 4 FAILED cloture votes in 2009.

May 13, 2009 Nomination of David J. Hayes, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior Failed, 57–39

Jun 22, 2009 Amendment to Travel Promotion Act of 2009 Failed, 53–34

Oct 13, 2009 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 Failed, 56–38

Oct 21, 2009 Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009 Failed, 47–53

Feb 9, 2010 On the Cloture Motion (Cloture Motion on Craig Becker, of Illinois, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board Failed, 52–33

In reality, the threat of a filibuster has been just as effective. And I know you know that.

The internets are a wonderful thing. You should try them some time. Your hero, dubya, even knew about them.

This is really for you, since I know you'll never post it.

5:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just because the Dems had 60 seats it doesn't mean they could always count on every one of them. This you know also.

5:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's wrong Michael? Cat got yer tongue? Allergic to facts?

Typical of all Repukes

Coward.

6:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why is it when a liberal is exposed they immediately use ad hominem attacks? When you reach the point of name calling you have ostensibly have nothing left to say of substance.....so it is time to act like children. Someone tell me HOW MANY TIMES did the REPUBLICANS FILLIBUSTER in 2009?....Answer still is ZERO. End of story.

11:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why is it when a conservative is confronted with facts they immediately turn into a WATB, crying that they have been victimized. I never saw so many cases of "the vapors" than I have since President Obama was elected.

4:43 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home