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Harry Reid Tag

The seemingly inexorable march towards economic socialism and political statism has been accomplished through legislative and judicial ratchets which, once established, were all but impossible to reverse in part because the filibuster helped lock in the agenda and those supporting the agenda. Because of the ratchet, the nation moved only in one direction: Towards redistribution of wealth, and bigger government. Because of the ratchet, there was little or no hope of fundamental reversals. Not anymore. When Democrats -- the embodiment of redistribution and statism -- exercised the Nuclear Option yesterday, they blew up the ratchet. The filibuster is dead for all purposes, even if superficially only as to non-Supreme Court nomninees. No one will respect the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees or important legislation -- the Senate can't be half pregnant. Ezra Klein gives several reasons whey the filibuster effectively is dead for all purposes, and why that may be a good thing for Republicans in the near term, Nine reasons the filibuster change is a huge deal:
8. There's a lot of upside for Republicans in how this went down. It came at a time when Republicans control the House and are likely to do so for the duration of President Obama's second term, so the weakening of the filibuster will have no effect on the legislation Democrats can pass. The electoral map, the demographics of midterm elections, and the political problems bedeviling Democrats make it very likely that Mitch McConnell will be majority leader come 2015 and then he will be able to take advantage of a weakened filibuster. And, finally, if and when Republicans recapture the White House and decide to do away with the filibuster altogether, Democrats won't have much of an argument when they try to stop them....
The inexorable march no longer is inexorable.

UPDATE: Senate Filibuster Rule Change Vote 11-21-2013 https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/403582814064345088 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/403577151737167872 https://twitter.com/mviser/status/403577482462240768 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/403577524963123200

Mandy noted the other day, WH spox denies Sen. Durbin claim House GOPer told Obama “I cannot even stand to look at you”. It gets more interesting. It turns out that Dick Durbin wasn't "lying" if by lying you mean saying something he knew to be untrue.  It was curious why Durbin would not name names.  Now we know.  He would have had to name Harry Reid as his source. The White House gave the line to Harry Reid, who read it to the Democratic Senate caucus, one of whose members -- Durbin -- went public with it.  The story still was false, and the White House is claiming a "miscommunication." I'm not buying that.  The supposed statement took place on October 10, as Democrats were standing united against cutting a meaningful deal with Republicans. I'm leaning toward the "miscommunication" not being so, but part of a White House strategy to hold the party together at a critical time. Huffington Post reported (h/t Hot Air), Harry Reid Told Caucus That Pete Sessions Was Behind Obama Insult, Senators Say:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told his Democratic caucus last week in a private meeting that a top House Republican said to President Barack Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," according to two Democratic senators who were present. The account was confirmed by two Senate Democratic aides who said they independently learned of the exchange from other senators. A White House official said Thursday that the administration did relay such a message to Reid, but that it was the result of a miscommunication. “While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the President is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding," the official said in a statement.
Politico further reports:

Well, apparently today was just a photo op at the White House. Obama is still in a no negotiation mode. Instead, he's deliberately trying to talk down the markets. https://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status/385539376572547073 https://twitter.com/AndrewNBCNews/status/385539468859813888 https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/385539877557006336 John Boehner after White House Mtg 10-2-2013

The latest development. https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/385042956857511936 https://twitter.com/rickklein/status/385043012147216384 https://twitter.com/rickklein/status/385043509516197890 I think negotiating with empty chairs will be a good thing. Reid and Obama are riding high, convinced the media will convey their messaging. There's reason for them to think that: ...

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 There will be no Continuing Resolution tonight. There will be a partial shutdown of non-essential services. All because Democrats refused to have Congress treated like ordinary citizens as to Obamacare exchange subsidies,...

Current status a/o 10:15 p.m. Eastern -- House passed two amendments, Senate then rejected. Looks like no more House votes tonight. House will simply request a conference with the Senate tomorrow. So Harry Reid gets his "shutdown." https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/384865087409754112 https://twitter.com/ChadPergram/status/384863087586603008 https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/384864630440337408 You can watch House floor here and here (will embed when House comes back in session). UPDATE -- Senate quickly rejected House Amendments, thereby voting to preserve Congressional special privileges and unequal treatment of individuals.  Looks like the likely House response will be limited specific "clean" funding similar to what was done with military pay.  Make Democrats in Senate vote against funding Veterans Department, etc. Senate Final Vote Rejecting House Amendments 9-30-2013

For a government shutdown if it happens. The U.S. Senate is dysfunctional because of Harry Reid. No budget. No votes on most House legislation. No nothing except his way or the highway. We're seeing it again in the Continuing Resolution and Debt Ceiling battles.  Because Reid has shut down and shut out Republican voices, the only way to raise budget issues is using Continuing Resolution and Debt Ceiling deadlines -- a necessity in Harry Reid's Senate not the choice Republicans wanted. The poisoning of our politics by Reid did not start with the latest battles, it has been his methodology for years. You will not hear this narrative in the mainstream media. So on this day of all days, Tweet out #BlameHarryReid. (You can tweet this post, or use the Tweet broadcast function at the top of the sidebar which will be active for a few hours.) (added) As of 12:41 a.m., the hashtag #BlameHarryReid was still rising (Twitter feed added to bottom of post): Topsy BlameHarryReid 9-30-2013 1241 pm Twitchy if tracking the action, #BlameHarryReid: Looming shutdown? Citizens to Sen. Reid: Own it. Thanks for making this a Topsy Top 1k post (a/o 5:35 p.m.) Topsy - BlameHarryReid post 9-30-2013 Update: True to form, Politico via Drudge reports that Reid, who had the Senate take all of yesterday and this morning off, will not allow a vote on the House bill funding the government but removing the medical equipment tax: Drudge - Harry Reid to double down on shutdown

Should be interesting. There is such a thing as overplaying your hand. The conventional wisdom is that Republicans who have overplayed theirs. I'm not so sure. https://twitter.com/DavidMDrucker/status/384458323468513282 ...

Harry Reid almost never allows up or down votes on Republican agenda legislation coming out of the House.  He has taken the Senate hostage. A good example is the House Continuing Resolution which Reid would not allow to come up for a vote until Obamacare defunding...

How convenient. How abusive of the memory of those who fell, a clear ploy to gain political advantage from the significance of that date. The vote will be on Cloture for the resolution, not the resolution itself. It's an even higher hurdle. https://twitter.com/NewsBreaker/status/377131043498639360 https://twitter.com/BrianFaughnan/status/377130883599577088 https://twitter.com/susanferrechio/status/377131547725295616 Update 8 p.m. -- Facing mounting...

Harry Reid stated on Friday that Obamacare was just a step in the direction of a single-payer health care system:
Reid said he thinks the country has to “work our way past” insurance-based health care during a Friday night appearance on Vegas PBS’ program “Nevada Week in Review.” “What we’ve done with Obamacare is have a step in the right direction, but we’re far from having something that’s going to work forever,” Reid said. When then asked by panelist Steve Sebelius whether he meant ultimately the country would have to have a health care system that abandoned insurance as the means of accessing it, Reid said: “Yes, yes. Absolutely, yes.”
It was treated as breaking news. Headlines Harry Reid Single Payer Some Republicans also seemed shocked: https://twitter.com/RepTomPrice/status/366551040650248193 This announcement, however, was neither breaking news nor reason to be shocked. Democrats have been saying that Obamacare was just a step in the right direction since the days in which Obamacare was first proposed: https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/366555242764046336 Obama has been telling us that single payer was the goal since the time he was just a twinkle in the eye of the Chicago political machine (video via Hot Air):