Markos Moulitsas Zuniga Expresses My Puzzlement About Today's Political Maneuverings...
That the political maneuvering so often--like now--appears incomprehensible: foolish actions by people who do not understand their own position or incentives--is why I am much happier talking and thinking about policy substance.
But let me note this from Markos Moulitsas Zuniga:
Kos: Senate GOP blows itself up. What the hell where they thinking?:
Even with a truncated and compromised filibuster, Republicans were able to gum up the works to unprecedented levels.... The federal judiciary is now evenly balanced, with 390 GOP-appointed judges and 391 Democratic-appointed ones. However, there are 93 vacancies.... [By] surrendering on three judges would've allowed the GOP to continue obstructing the other 87. Provoking the Dems into eliminating the filibuster, on the other hand, now allows Dems to ram all 90 through with minimal trouble. And there's no longer any need to try and find judges that can pick up a handful of Republican votes.... So why surrender their ability to gum up the works? Is it a bet that they'll take over the chamber in the 2014 elections? Not really. A presidential veto would negate the need for minority Dems to filibuster.
So is it a bet that Republicans will take both the Senate next year, and the White House in 2016? Perhaps. But if so, why not give proper deference for three years, relent on a handful of judges, preserve the filibuster, and then ditch it when they theoretically took power in early 2017? None of this makes sense. Republicans have been daring Democrats to go nuclear all week, and today things went "boom!". But that bomb detonated over Republicans while Dems watched from a safe bunker miles away. So what were Republicans thinking?
284 words...