Feb 16, 2021
Radio Public|LibSyn|YouTube|Patreon|Square Cash (Share code: Send $5, get $5!)
David Waldman welcomes you to today’s post-holiday KITM special! How was your Presidents Day, George Washington’s second birthday, the Ides of February (following the Nones, before the Pridie to the Kalend, et cētera)? You learn a lot on this show!
For instance, do you know who’s responsible for the “Reid Rule”? You would, if you’ve been paying attention in class... Joan McCarter reminds us that the filibuster is the enemy of democracy. Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin believe the filibuster is their friend, but it just makes them Republican tools voting against popular and needed legislation. Reconciliation probably won’t hurt Democrats unless Republicans really want it to.
The House adopted a new set of rules which also helped aid majority rule (which of course, aids minorities). Federal Judges rush to senior status, assured their replacements won’t embarrass them.
More than four million people are still without power in Texas. If only they could just harness the energy of Republican blame shifting, they’d be ok. With Donald Trump, blame shifters have a lot of heavy lifting ahead of them. They’ve stayed in shape, though. They are doing to Nancy Pelosi what they plan to do to Kamala Harris, and what they did for years with Hillary Clinton. David remembers the first time they pulled their “what did Pelosi know and when did she know it?” shtick with the Bush-Cheney torture “debate”. Unfortunately, the aughts are a long-lost time, back when the internet was horse-drawn, folks watched a thing called Adobe Flash Player, and Glenn Greenwald hadn’t yet descended into madness.