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Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nomination

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TyrantII

Member
They must have had fire and brimstone rained down on them from that politico article.

Honestly, you need no excuse besides the ugly ugly precedent this would create. They STOLE a nomination. There literally only one person who should be confirmed, and that's the middle of the ground guy Obama nominated.

No one else. Full stop. Fight this.
 

Bishman

Member
Good! Call the GOP bluff and see if they go for the nuclear option.

With Trump declining approval rating, Mitch McConnell will have to think long and hard if he wants to try it.
 
Hold the line. Block it all. The game is in motion.

If all we can do is delay, then we delay.

Don't give the GOP a single piece of cover here.

If on some random chance the GOP try and do something good, then fine. Go along with it.

But I'm not too confident we'll have to cross that bridge given the first two months of this presidency.
 
Sessions never appeared good or intelligent.

Sessions was a wolf in wolf's clothing. Anybody who said or thought otherwise was probably also a wolf.

Nah, Sessions was a wolf in racist clothing. I don't like Gorsuch much but Sessions was worse.

What I mean is that Sessions, like Gorsuch (and frankly most of Trump's other picks), comes off as nice and sweet and considerate. Those of us here look at things from an angle that makes their disguise obvious, but to others, not so much.

Gorsuch saying he's objective, for example. There are rulings that show that he has looked at some things objectively, but the rulings where he's demonstrated otherwise, plus the source of his nomination, make it obvious to us.

But Sessions is off topic.
 

Paz

Member
So is the ideal scenario that the republicans go nuclear and then the Democrats take back government in 2018 and 2020 before enacting the most progressive agenda in recent history?
 

BigDFresh

Member
Repubs wouldn't fill a seat in the last year of Obama's presidency. Why would the Democrats fill a seat in the last year of Trump's?

Hahahahaha...I hope you're right. Pence will at least act presidential. His views make me throw up in my mouth though.
 

aeolist

Banned
So is the ideal scenario that the republicans go nuclear and then the Democrats take back government in 2018 and 2020 before enacting the most progressive agenda in recent history?

the ideal scenario is that republicans are so afraid of dems taking back congress and getting appointees that they decline to nuke the filibuster and gorsuch does not get on the court
 
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!

Right until it blows up in their face.
 

DOWN

Banned
It's only fair to return the favor

I just hope the GOP doesn't go nuclear and that all the other Justices last
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Scalia has been gone for over a year and Republicans just straight-up denied even having hearings while Obama was president.

How is this acceptable?

They won the election, signaling that the people either don't know or don't care about this move.

The rules have thus been altered.

Block everything. Shut down the govt.

sounds familiar

It's awful but apparently that's the only way to get anything done (or not done) right now. THE GOP proved that.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Good. Listen to a day of hearings on Gorsuch. This guy is terrible. Why is it impossible for him to answer straight?

Never mind the fact Garland should have gotten a fair hearing.

Because it's better for him to give non answers than clearly conservative slanted ones. The thinking is maybe he can even get a few Dems to vote for him that way, and it's also not a exactly unprecedented to just say I can't comment on things that potentially might come before the court.
 
All you need to do is watch this guy say, "Well gosh" "Oh golly" like a million times during his hearing to know he's a piece of shit. Amazing that some people can't see through that shit. The way the media has been tiptoeing around how the GOP stole a nomination is bullshit too.
 

slit

Member
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!

Right until it blows up in their face.

What makes people think they won't nuke it next time if the Dems let it pass this time? If anything they have MORE incentive to nuke it next time in that scenario because it would put the final nail in the progressive side of the court.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Good.
There's no reason to keep the fight for later. We know they (this nominated one and, god forbid, another potential one or two) will still get confirmed in the end one way or another, but at least the GOP will own everything they're going to do and the Dems show some spine to re-energize the base.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
All you need to do is watch this guy say, "Well gosh" "Oh golly" like a million times during his hearing to know he's a piece of shit. Amazing that some people can't see through that shit. The way the media has been tiptoeing around how the GOP stole a nomination is bullshit too.

This is the reason to do everything you can to block him. Repubs cant really play the obstruction card when all they did was play it for 4+ years. The admin being such a shit show just makes it easier. They are actually justified in being obstructionists.
 

Ultryx

Member
They won the election, signaling that the people either don't know or don't care about this move.

The rules have thus been altered.

People are uninformed, misinformed, apathetic to anything that doesn't directly, immediately affect them, and just plain fucking ignorant.
 
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!

Right until it blows up in their face.
That makes no sense. You think it will be Republicans who care about the balance of the court? Ginsburg goes, the filibuster goes regardless. McConnell ain't going to be able to resist the pressure from Trump and from his own base to fill her seat in that situation. This logic is just totally breaking by head. "Republicans totally won't be salivating over Ginsburg's seat, and will totally leave it alone, but only if you leave alone Scalia's! We tooooootally won't come after it if you don't do that! No fingers crossed behind our back or anything! Really!" Don't get by why argument is getting any ground, because it completely falls apart on its face--trusting Republicans to act in good faith like that never leads to anything good, and it's surprising to hear anyone who would call themselves a progressive try to make that argument.

Either they plan to get rid of the filibuster either way, or they don't. Either way, force them to own it. No point relying on hypotheticals. Just use the tools you got.
 
What would it matter? They go nuclear now, or they go nuclear later. What's the difference?

The difference is 2018. If they can pull just enough wins to prevent even a tiebreaker, going nuclear would be pointless, thus preserving it for later on down the line.

Forcing them to do it now is a big risk, and to me is a sign the Democrats don't think they have very good odds in 2018.
 
So is the ideal scenario that the republicans go nuclear and then the Democrats take back government in 2018 and 2020 before enacting the most progressive agenda in recent history?


This is absolutely the end game plan. Better for this to happen so that when the dems take over they can run roughshod over the republicans in pursuit of policy.

We'll just need a candidate for president that has the balls to toss bipartisanship in the bushes in order to get his agenda through. Bipartisan politics died during the Obama era via Republican hands. This is the political reality now.
 

slit

Member
The difference is 2018. If they can pull just enough wins to prevent even a tiebreaker, going nuclear would be pointless, thus preserving it for later on down the line.

Forcing them to do it now is a big risk, and to me is a sign the Democrats don't think they have very good odds in 2018.

I don't even understand what you are trying to say. Preserve what for after 2018? If the GOP nukes it then it won't be coming back.
 
This is absolutely the end game plan. Better for this to happen so that when the dems take over they can run roughshod over the republicans in pursuit of policy.

We'll just need a candidate for president that has the balls to toss bipartisanship in the bushes in order to get his agenda through. Bipartisan politics died during the Obama era via Republican hands. This is the political reality now.

Al Franken or Kamala Harris.
 

Most legal scholars that I've seen weigh in have said that Gorsuch is basically qualified and the kind of judge you could expect to be nominated by any conservative president. The parts of his confirmation hearing I watched showed a guy who was basically cut from the Scalia cloth, but smarter than Scalia, overall, and with the possibility of not always skewing in a conservative direction.

Now, filibustering this on the grounds that the GOP were disgusting for what they did to Garland? I'm on board with that. But Scalia-lite replacing Scalia is hardly an end of the world scenario.
 
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!

Right until it blows up in their face.

Blows up in their face how?

Say the dems vote to confirm Gorshuch. How does that stop the GOP nuking the filibuster and ramming through an ideologue should Ginsberg pass away? It doesn't.
 

aeolist

Banned
Most legal scholars that I've seen weigh in have said that Gorsuch is basically qualified and the kind of judge you could expect to be nominated by any conservative president. The parts of his confirmation hearing I watched showed a guy who was basically cut from the Scalia cloth, but smarter than Scalia, overall, and with the possibility of not always skewing in a conservative direction.

if gorsuch is qualified then the standards are too low. he's a fucking sociopath.
 

btrboyev

Member
They should and could do this, but the man is getting confirmed no matter what. Rules will be changed to allow him through.
 

Dhx

Member
then they'd get rid of the filibuster then. if conservatives want to force a judge through then he's getting through, no reason not to go for it now.

Except that's not what has happened with any of Trump's nominees so far, and if you can't use a filibuster because you're afraid that they'll blow it up when there's nothing to stop them from blowing it up then the threat of a filibuster for a hypothetical future nominee doesn't mean shit anyway.

They needed to do this.

This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'

Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.

What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond points with the base?

Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.
 

slit

Member
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'

Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.

What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond d points with the base?

Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.

BS. Dems allowing the vote to go through now does not force them to do anything at a later date.
 

aeolist

Banned
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'

Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.

What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond points with the base?

Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.

this is literally all that matters. 2016 was a loss because the base didn't turn out, the only hope for the next two elections is doing things that make liberals and leftists actually excited to vote for democrats again.

the party indicating that it's willing to stand up to the right wing for the first time in 30 years would be good for that.
 
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'

Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.

What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond points with the base?

Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.

You gain credibility and votes.

If the GOP get a chance to fill a seat currently held by a democrat, they will confirm whoever they want, no matter what happens with Gorsuch (unless by some miracle the Dems can get 51 senators come 2018).
 

TyrantII

Member
the ideal scenario is that republicans are so afraid of dems taking back congress and getting appointees that they decline to nuke the filibuster and gorsuch does not get on the court

Theirs. The real argument is the GOP will do whatever they need to do to win a news cycle, so it's dead already. We just don't have the timestamp.

There might be a possibility they don't nuke it. But if they need to they will for something terrible. Every time something has been in their way the last 15 years, they broke precedent, and norms and pushed partisanship to get the result they wanted.

Nothing has changed, and to expect rationality is just insane at this point.

Democrats need to draw their line and hold. You only muddy the waters and provide cover by wishfully thinking DC is operating on the same rules it did 20 years ago.
 
Honestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.

Yeah, I have severe doubts about the wisdom of putting the filibuster at risk for what is essentially a status quo nominee, as opposed to someone who changes the balance of the Court - not when Trump could realistically appoint Ginsburg or Kennedy's successor...

But I think the calculation here is that Democrats couldn't extract any concession from the GOP that they wouldn't go nuclear for Trump's next nominee, so they might as well stand their ground here. Otherwise they risk alienating the party base and looking like fools when the GOP inevitably betrays them.
 

Plumbob

Member
Most legal scholars that I've seen weigh in have said that Gorsuch is basically qualified and the kind of judge you could expect to be nominated by any conservative president. The parts of his confirmation hearing I watched showed a guy who was basically cut from the Scalia cloth, but smarter than Scalia, overall, and with the possibility of not always skewing in a conservative direction.

Now, filibustering this on the grounds that the GOP were disgusting for what they did to Garland? I'm on board with that. But Scalia-lite replacing Scalia is hardly an end of the world scenario.

Did you even watch the video?
 
The difference is 2018. If they can pull just enough wins to prevent even a tiebreaker, going nuclear would be pointless, thus preserving it for later on down the line.

Forcing them to do it now is a big risk, and to me is a sign the Democrats don't think they have very good odds in 2018.
Dems ain't retaking the Senate in 2018, if that's what your arguing. I can tell you that right now, no matter how badly Trump messes up. The House will very much be in play, but not the Senate. Last year was the chance for retaking it, and it didn't happen. The map in 2018 was always unfavorable in Democrats in the Senate, and nothing's changed in that regard since D's are mostly defending. Ain't going to happen.

And this whole argument relies on making a deal with Republicans, assuming them to be trustworthy. What's to stop them from going back on this deal, and replacing Ginsburg's seat with a Scalia clone should she pass, either way? Especially with the base salivating over the possibility of having her seat? Nothing. Just like they have any number of times before, they'd have no problem not following through at all. This whole thing is dumb and shortsighted.
 
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