This goes right along with Obama's "I was against raising the debt ceiling, before I was for it."
These people are literally making me sick. Folks, if this move today in the Senate along with Obama’s creation and execution of new executive powers and ObamaCare don’t have you’re heads spinning in disgust and outrage then you need to wake up!!
In 2005, when the Democrats were in the MINORITY, Harry Reid gave a floor speech arguing the vital importance of the filibuster rule. Here is part of that speech...
Mr. President, yesterday morning I spoke here about a statement the Majority Leader issued calling the filibuster a “procedural gimmick.”
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“…And this is exactly what the filibuster does. It encourages moderation and consensus. It gives voice to the minority, so that cooler heads may prevail.
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Mr. President, the filibuster is a critical tool in keeping the majority in check. This central fact has been acknowledged and even praised by Senators from both parties.
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But when legislation only has the support of the minority, the filibuster slows the legislation …prevents a Senator from ramming it through…and gives the American people enough time join the opposition.
Mr. President, the right to extended debate is never more important than when one party controls Congress and the White House. In these cases, the filibuster serves as a check on power and preserves our limited government.
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For 200 years, we’ve had the right to extended debate. It’s not some “procedural gimmick.” It’s within the vision of the Founding Fathers of our country. They established a government so that no one person – and no single party – could have total control.
Some in this Chamber want to throw out 217 years of Senate history in the quest for absolute power.
They want to do away with Mr. Smith coming to Washington. They want to do away with the filibuster. They think they are wiser than our Founding Fathers.”
So let’s go through the checklist now that Harry Reid and the Democrats are in the MAJORITY…
- The filibuster is now a “procedural gimmick.”
- Debate is no longer an option.
- Ramming a bill through so fast before the American people can join the opposition…(Oh wait, we already had that — ObamaCare — and look where that got us.)
- Now it’s fine and dandy to throw out 200 years of Senate history. (Those guys who wrote the Constitution were just a bunch of stupid bigots and racists.)
- The filibuster is not needed to encourage moderation and consensus. (It’s Harry’s way or the highway.)
- The filibuster is no longer necessary to give the minority a voice. (We won the election so you losers shut the heck up!)
- The filibuster is not needed to keep the majority in check. (We won so we should be able to do ANYTHING we want.)
- The filibuster is not needed to put a check on power and preserve limited government.
- One party SHOULD have total control.
- Democrats believe they are wiser than our Founding Fathers.
It's amazing to me how in just a few short years (sometimes even weeks) something that could be so evil and so detrimental to our country can — in the blink of an eye — be perfectly fine and acceptable.
In 2006, Obama said raising the debt ceiling was "a sign of leadership failure." He went on to say, "Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” Obama said raising the debt limit WEAKENED our country. In 2013, Republicans who opposed raising the debt were called terrorists. When Obama did it he was called patriotic.
In 2005, Reid said the filibuster was a vital tool that, "...serves as a check on power and preserves our limited government." It was important to provide checks and balances and to eliminate one party rule. Now Reid says "Congress is broken." So he in his infinite wisdom, being much wiser than our Founding Fathers, can erase over 200 years of history and do away with the filibuster rule.
Poof, in less than a decade, ideals that both men supposedly held in such high regard are just relegated to a dung heap. Do politicians ever wonder why their words, their promises, their assurances, their "read my lips", and their "periods"...fall on deaf and callous ears?








