| US Senate Democrats, fearing the thought of actually leading the nation after Barack Obama's second mandate, decided that requiring 60 votes for everything was just fine with them.
Harry Reid decided to trust that lying snake Mitch McConnell just one more time.
And he decided to let Colorado's very own Michael Bennet continue to ignore the the Democratic party's core principles and the progressive candidates voters elected and is quite ok with having Bennet work towards an ever more conservative United States Senate:
Bennet, whose ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is 76.83, making him the 38th most progressive Democrat among the 55 in the Senate, although 9 are new and have no scores at all yet. Bennet's score puts him into the ranks of fearful, tepidly moderate conservatives like Mark Warner (VA), Kay Hagan (NC), Claire McCaskill (MO), Tom Carper (DE) and Mark Pryor (AR), a pretty putrid bunch, who often water down progressive proposals in committee, making them all but useless to working families fighting for their lives against corporate predators.
A deranged Austerity-freak (was that necessary, Howie? -z), Bennet voted against the "Fiscal Cliff" compromise because it didn't go far enough in doling out pain to working families for Bennet's tastes.
Staffers say the reason it took Bennet so long to decide whether to take the job-- a record three weeks that drove Washington media crazy-- was because he was negotiating a leadership platform that would promote moderate Democrats.
Bennet has decided, with Reid's ok, to work for exactly what voters did not just vote for.
With their cowardice on full display, then, is it any wonder Mitch McConnell will continue to abuse the filibuster and frustrate our democracy in the United States Senate?
No.
No sooner do Democrats cave on real filibuster reform, than Republicans get to work filibustering any hope of reining in Wall Street. Adam Serwer has the details.
There are just enough dinosaurs and recalcitrants in the Party to stop us from doing what is necessary. We're close, but we're not quite there. Until we get there, the GOP will continue to burn the country down in its effort to funnel more money into the pockets of the wealthy financial sector fat cats.
McConnell and the other Senate Republicans will do it all with the help of Harry Reid, who wants 60 votes for everything, and Moderate Republican Michael Bennet, who wants to restrain the influence of party liberals in the White House and on Capitol Hill and elect more moderate Democrats to the senate.
Way to screw your base again, guys..... |
