Snowe and Collins: Out of Clout
Slate's recent article, titled The Not-So-Fantastic Four examines the diminishing power of our moderate Senators. One paragraph was particularly interesting:
The ultimate defeat of the moderates, however, would be the successful activation of the nuclear option. Scuttling the filibuster for judicial nominees is an affront to everything the moderates have tried to promote: bipartisanship, compromise, and a check on the right wing's excesses. So far, the moderates' refusal to play along—along with the nervousness of traditionalists like Virginia's John Warner about the long-term effects on the Senate—have made it extremely difficult for Frist to corral the necessary votes. But the Republicans are close, and if Frist find a way to drop the Bomb, the moderates' lack of clout will be proved.
The showdown over the nuclear option will take place over the next few weeks. Snowe is against the elimination of the filibuster, Collins is on the fence.
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posted by @ 5:18 PM 
6 comments
6 Comments:
It should be noted if we sent Democrats to the Senate, they would have even less power.
Posted by George
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
George, when you post under a first name and don't list an email I have no way of knowing what you've posted. I'm removing this post because it was insulting, but remember that fact in the future.
Posted by Mike
Got it. Thanks.
Posted by George
Lack of moderate clout?
The solution: the moderate wing of the Republican party needs to re-organize ourselves, expand and grow the base of support, begin fielding candidates again. You know how many moderates the Club for Growth has ever unseated? None . The reason the radical wing of the party is growing at the expense of the moderates is that moderates aren't getting to the ballot box. That has to change, and the Ripon Society wing / Rockefeller wing / moderate wing / whatever nice euphemism we come up with next, has to start fielding candidates, building infrastructure, putting forward ideas, getting back into the mindset that we're fighting a battle for the soul of the party here.
The difficulty for us is that, while moderates constitute the bulk of the party and the country, they aren't usually so involved. Moderates - almost by definition - aren't usually people who are pissed off about stuff, and for people to get involved day-to-day in politics, they've usually got to be pretty mad about something. That's the barrier we've got to break past.
Just my $0.02. The right of the party wants to kick us out (or at least, shut us up) - I don't want to kick them out, I don't want them to shut up, I'd just appreciate a little civility, being that we're all in the same tent.
I can understand the desire of the other party to stop the confirmation of Justices to whom they're implaccably opposed; if I'd been in the Senate at the time, I rather suspect I'd have used every tool in the legislative armory to stop Breyer's confirmation. Truthfully, my view of the matter is that every nominee should get an up/down vote - but it is foolish, shortsighted and entirely unnecessary to abolish the rights of the minority in the Senate over this matter, and kudos to Sen. Snowe for opposing it.
Posted by Simon Dodd