Captain Ed Takes Some LumpsOver
this post from Coalition of the Chillin' members. I think he's on solid ground when he blasts the filibuster's past as an instrument of lynching and segregation. But I disagree with this part:
ADDENDUM and BUMP: I'm putting this on top for the morning. The more I think about this story, the more incensed I become. The Gang of Fourteen stood in front of the American people and proclaimed that rescuing the filibuster amount to "saving the Republic", and the other thirteen stood there and endorsed that point of view from Robert Byrd, of all people.The only principle the filibuster has ever protected, as far as I see, is naked partisanship and in the case of lynching, racial oppression and terror.Well, the
filibuster has a long, and not always honorable history, but not always dishonorable. In June 1968, the filibuster was used to prevent Justice Abe Fortas from ascending to the Chief Justice position. Lyndon Johnson was leaving office at the end of the year and Fortas had some financial irregularities that Republicans were concerned about.
Certainly a strong argument can be made that the filibuster should be abolished. I'm not convinced that's a conservative argument. However I'm also not saying that because I'm part of the Coalition of the Chillin' that I'm enamored of the practice, or of some of the mods who struck the deal.
Kudos to Ed for acknowledging that he went a little too far with his analogy and for including
links to people who
disagreed with him rather vocally.
