Pirate's Cove

Salon has been back and forth on the use of the nuclear option, mostly in favor of doing away with filibusters when Democrats are in charge. Of course, now that there is a possible threat to repealing Obamacare through the nuclear option (as opposed to using the parliamentary shenanigans used to pass the law, which was underwater in approval ratings before it was passed, while it was passed, and since it has been passed)

GOP’s Obamacare nuclear option: Will they nix the filibuster to obliterate the law?
The court challenges are over. Will they play legislative hardball if they unify control of the government?

Now that a certain court case about whether four not perfectly clear words in the Affordable Care Act invalidate the statute has been laughed out of the Supreme Court, the theater for future Obamacare-killings returns to the legislature.

Senate Republicans are considering an experiment this Congress to see how much of a full repeal package they can move through the chamber under the simple-majority rules of reconciliation. If any bill made it out of that arduous process, it would get vetoed by the current president. But at least Republican leaders could know how much they’d be able to chew off in 2017 under potentially unified Republican control of government.

So then the question becomes: Would you support using the “nuclear option” to kill the filibuster in order to move an Obamacare repeal to the president’s desk?

We raised this possibility last week, and it’s beginning to filter into candidate interviews. It sounds like Jeb Bush, for example, is finally learning how to contend in a Republican presidential primary. When pressed about nuking the filibuster in an interview with Hugh Hewitt last Friday, Bush said that he “would certainly consider” it if the right elements of a replacement plan were in place. Scott Walker had an even more definitive answer for Hewitt:

You’ll have to hit the link to read that part. Hey, even nutcases like Salon deserve the hits (somewhat off topic, it annoys me to no end, plus, it is really bad form, when blogs excerpt virtually an entire article, especially all at once. At that point, it is no longer Fair Use of intellectual property)

If Mitch McConnell and colleagues found themselves under pressure from the Republican base to nuke the legislative filibuster but opted not to, it wouldn’t just be because they’re worried about preserving their rights when they’re inevitably back in the minority. It would also be about protecting themselves while they’re in the majority.

So, now that the GOP is controlling Congress, Salon wants them to remember (well, concern trolls) that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Funny how that doesn’t happen when Dems are in charge.