On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 12:59 PM, Jerry Barnes <critic...@gmail.com> wrote: > > "Currently, yes, but that's not enough to "ram" policies through due to > things like the filibuster which requires a supermajority to get around." > > > Until Senator Kennedy died, the democrats had a filibuster proof majority.
Only if you count Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, neither of whom are Democrats. Bernie could usually be counted on as a vote for the President, though not as things have gone progressively to the right. Lieberman has never been a reliable vote. He technically caucuses with the Democrats but has never been a reliable vote. This also includes Arlen Specter who just switched parties in order to avoid a primary defeat at the hands of Pat Toomey. Republicans have a fairly coherent caucus. Snowe, Collins (and now Brown) are the primary exceptions to that in the Senate. Democrats have a much less coherent caucus. Democrats have Lieberman and Sanders as Independents (Sanders from the Left) and folks like Lincoln, Nelson, Landreiu and Baucus on the Blue Dog side of the caucus. They were also without Senator Byrd for most votes due to illness. Of course that still doesn't excuse them. I'm plenty pissed at the Democratic caucus in the Senate. This is just an attempt to give a slightly more realistic picture of the situation. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:324842 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
