Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.—Gustav Mahler

Friday, February 09, 2007

More on Cloture

My good friend Jim Elliott gets it wrong again in his argument (comment below on my post on ending debate) that Comrade Reid wanted only to have a vote on (presumably) the Biden-Warner resolution. And those evil Republicans refused to allow it, thus preventing a debate on the Senate floor.

Sorry, Jim. McConnell wanted debate not only on Biden-Warner, but also on alternative language from McCain and others, that would have forced the Dems to vote up or down on more than merely "supporting the troops" or similar eyewash. Appropriately, McConnell refused to play Reid's game; if Reid would not allow debate on alternatives, then the Republicans would not allow a one-sided debate on only the Biden-Warner resolution.

And so I repeat: It is the Democrats who do not want a debate on the surge; they merely want to throw bones to the political left while avoiding responsibility for the effects.

1 comment:

James F. Elliott said...

Even if you are correct - and I'd be really curious to see if you consulted anything resembling facts in coming to your conclusion - in what way does this make you right based on what you wrote previously? You explicitly wrote about the Democrats voting for cloture, when they did no such thing. Cloture is a very specific term in the Congressional rules for voting to end floor debate and bringing the resolution to a vote. Cloture is not bringing a resolution to the floor. You're still wrong based on what you wrote previously. All you're doing now is engaging in spin.