It's hard being a political cynic and a government teacher at the same time. On any given day, I find myself at the corner of contempt with the status quo and a false optimism for the youth to get involved. This frustration was boiling over today as I read a blog from the Washington Post. In Dylan Matthews' "Yes, Chuck Hagel is Being filibustered. Yes, That's Unprecedented" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/15/yes-chuck-hagel-is-being-filibustered-yes-thats-unprecedented/) he discusses last night's cloture motion (60 votes) to move on to a confirmation vote for Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.
Now, I'm not saying that I am/not a fan of Hagel (although some of his fumbles during the confirmation hearing were hilarious), but what I'm not a fan of is political foot dragging. When the cloture motion failed, and the F-word was thrown around, according to Matthews, Republicans said:
”It’s not a filibuster. I don’t want to use that word,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin. Immediately after the vote, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) agreed, taking to the Senate floor to declare, “This is not a filibuster.” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) issued a statement clarifying that while he “believe[s] a president’s cabinet members deserve an up-or-down vote,” he also thinks “the majority leader’s motion to cut off debate only two days after an important nomination is reported to the Senate floor is premature.”
If that's the case, then why have other confirmations sped by faster than two days? I get it, many are not fans of Hagel, and they want to prolong the debate to see if they can get the 58 who were in favor of the cloture motion below a simple majority, but why drag feet, confirm him or not, stop playing political games so we can worry about the litany of other issues.
As much as I love some Filibustering from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, that was an act of desperation to prevent an injustice, but now the filibuster has become a tool of gamesplayers to exhaust their opposition into political movement......
Now, I'm not saying that I am/not a fan of Hagel (although some of his fumbles during the confirmation hearing were hilarious), but what I'm not a fan of is political foot dragging. When the cloture motion failed, and the F-word was thrown around, according to Matthews, Republicans said:
”It’s not a filibuster. I don’t want to use that word,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin. Immediately after the vote, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) agreed, taking to the Senate floor to declare, “This is not a filibuster.” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) issued a statement clarifying that while he “believe[s] a president’s cabinet members deserve an up-or-down vote,” he also thinks “the majority leader’s motion to cut off debate only two days after an important nomination is reported to the Senate floor is premature.”
If that's the case, then why have other confirmations sped by faster than two days? I get it, many are not fans of Hagel, and they want to prolong the debate to see if they can get the 58 who were in favor of the cloture motion below a simple majority, but why drag feet, confirm him or not, stop playing political games so we can worry about the litany of other issues.
As much as I love some Filibustering from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, that was an act of desperation to prevent an injustice, but now the filibuster has become a tool of gamesplayers to exhaust their opposition into political movement......