Obstruction Is Suddenly Fashionable Again, Just Don’t Call It Obstruction

December 5, 2016 – 9:06 am

You can bet that, come January 20, 2017, the Credentialed Media will surely follow the Democrat line that it’s not obstruction, it’s principled opposition

(Politico) Senate Democrats are preparing to put Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks through a grinding confirmation process, weighing delay tactics that could eat up weeks of the Senate calendar and hamper his first 100 days in office.

Multiple Democratic senators told POLITICO in interviews last week that after watching Republicans sit on Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court for nearly a year, they’re in no mood to fast-track Trump’s selections.

Now, in all fairness, what comes around goes around, much in the same way that Democrats might be hoist on their own petard when it comes to the nuclear option. That said, obstruction is a time honored way to make sure, among other things, that the minority party cannot be run over by the majority.

But it’s not just about exacting revenge.

Yes it is.

Democrats argue that some of the president-elect’s more controversial Cabinet picks — such as Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary — demand a thorough public airing.

In other words, demagoguery and character assassination will occur.

“They’ve been rewarded for stealing a Supreme Court justice. We’re going to help them confirm their nominees, many of whom are disqualified?” fumed Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “It’s not obstruction, it’s not partisan, it’s just a duty to find out what they’d do in these jobs.”

See? It’s no longer obstruction!

Democrats can gum up the works with procedural delays, but, they will not be able to block any of Trump’s appointments.

That said, the days of mandated bipartisanship for critical nominations are over. Democrats ensured that when they changed Senate rules in 2013 to kill the 60-vote requirement for all nominations except the Supreme Court. Democrats then moved to approve dozens of lifetime judges, though Republicans required procedural votes to stall the nominations as long as they could.

What will be a real hoot is when Trump nominates someone to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court.

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This entry was written by William Teach and posted on at 9:06 am and filed under Democrats. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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4 Responses to “Obstruction Is Suddenly Fashionable Again, Just Don’t Call It Obstruction”

  1. Liam Thomas says:
    December 5, 2016 at 9:13 am

    Michael Moore has already said he is going to primary ANY Democrat that WORKS WITH REPUBLICANS…….

    The Tea party did that……..

    and both groups are fuking ass-wipes.

    We could have fixed immigration years ago if it wasnt for party purity….and extreme positions by both sides…..

    Just saying….This congress will get nothing done at all…again and this time the GOP will blame the democrats while they behind closed doors toast each other to all the money they are making and the STUPID VOTERS and the RETARDED CONSTITUTIOn that is making them rich.

  2. Jeffery says:
    December 5, 2016 at 3:57 pm

    Conservadom obstructed Obama at every turn because conservatives opposed many of his initiatives, and because they are dicks.

    Likewise we hope the Dems obstruct the Republicans all they can to retain the good in the PPACA, to keep Medicare intact, to keep the Republicans from invading some random nation, to block privatization of Social Security, to keep clean air and water, to slow slashing taxes on the wealthy and corporations etc.

    We would hope most Dems would obstruct the Republicans at every turn. But to be honest there’s not a lot they can do to stop the upcoming conservative onslaught. The Repub problem is overreach, or premature congratulations, how to slow-walk their planned decimation of the working classes. Paraphrasing the Wicked Witch of the West:

    But’s that not what’s worrying us. It’s how to do it. These things must be done delicately or you hurt the next election cycle.

    If they dive in too suddenly, tossing 22 million off the ACA, or get bad press for killing Medicare, or start their severe recession too soon, they risk losing the House in 2018 (the Senate is probably safe for the Reps for now). So these things will have to be done delicately.

    But if the Repubs want to suddenly compromise and strengthen the ACA and Medicare, great!

  3. Jeffery says:
    December 5, 2016 at 10:33 pm

    On the ACA

    Trump Nov 13: Repeal and Replace Immediately. Not a 2 day gap, not a 2 year gap, but new healthcare better and cheaper.

    Ryan Dec 4: Repeal and Wait three years to replace it. They will propose something just before the 2018 elections to force the Dems to agree or be the ones responsible for letting the ACA expire. All politics, all the time.

    Hahahaha. Except it’s not funny. They have no plan except to blame someone else to try and save their majority.

    Covians: Are you satisfied that the House Repubs will repeal the ACA but make no changes for a few years?

    Maybe they can spend their spare time investigating the Clintons.

  4. drowningpuppies says:
    December 5, 2016 at 11:04 pm


    Did you know that the president-elect has to get China’s permission to take calls from the heads of other countries? Me neither, but the liberals seem to think so. I’m really confused.

    http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2016/12/05/laughing-at-liberals-as-they-lose-their-minds-n2254561

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