I notice he never called for that when the Dipshitocrats were filibustering EVERY LAST ONE of George Bush's judicial nominees ... do YOU recall him doing that? No? Funny huh, I guess he had a recent revelation or something because we all know how perverted fair and impartial he is.
Here's the deal. When filibusters first started, the senate couldn't vote until it stopped. Of course, in those days, they had to actually keep talking and eventually they'd get tired of it ... or the other side would drop their attempt at passing the law.
Later on (1917) they changed the rules so they could stop a filibuster with a two-thirds vote of the senate (cloture.) That would be 67 votes today. After a while of that they changed the rules AGAIN (1975) to allow cloture with a three-fifths vote (which is the 60 votes we have today.) At some point in there they even changed the rules so that they didn't even have to keep talking during a filibuster ... they only had to THREATEN to do it. All of these things which weakened the filibuster have been bad for the nation (IMHO.)
Now that the Republicans are using the filibuster health care bill is in jeopardy, they want to change it again (see Bawney Fwank's call above.) See, this bill is such a massive (and permanent) power grab, the Dipshitocrats are willing to trash a lot of history (and anything else that gets in their way) to make their dream come true. This isn't about the "good of America" or they'd never entertain the thought of cramming a bill down your throat on a one-vote margin in the senate. How is it that the good of 51 votes overrides the good of 49 votes? That's why a simple majority should NEVER be good enough in the senate.
Anyway, I wish they'd have stuck with the 67 vote requirement for cloture. The government NEVER did as much damage as quickly when they actually had to have a lot of agreement before passing controversial laws like this GIANT PIECE OF CRAP health care bill they're passing now. Once they got the three-fifths in 1975 they started doing real damage. Imagine what they could do with simple majorities.
Mark Levin often quotes former Senator Paul Laxalt (R-NV) "Every day congress meets you lose a little bit more of your liberty." The other day I heard Mark say something to the effect of "Maybe we should just allow them to meet every other year."
The filibuster, long seen by its proponents as a necessary check on power and by its critics as a frustrating waste of time, has been around since the mid-19th century. A filibuster simply allows the minority political party to choose to endlessly debate a bill, stalling — and sometimes preventing — an actual vote. The word comes from the Dutch term vrijbuiter (pirate), in addition to the Spanish word filibustero (freebooting). The origins of filibuster use trace back to ancient Rome, and the practice has been common in several other countries including England and Australia. In the U.S., the tactic became known as a label for a Senator who held his colleagues hostage by overtalking legislation. Originally, both the Senate and the House of Representatives had a rule called the Previous Question Motion, where a simple majority ended debate — a rule the House has kept. But the Senate dropped this provision in 1806, leaving open the potential for a filibuster.
The first filibuster in U.S. Senate history began on March 5, 1841, over the issue of the firing of Senate printers, and lasted six days. Ever since, politicians have loved filibusters or hated them — depending which side of the fight they were on. Proponents argue the filibuster protects the right to free speech and prevents the Senate majority from steamrolling the minority, thus ensuring that critical legislation gets a sufficient airing before being pushed through. Others contend the practice has gotten out of hand, leaving bills gridlocked in an oft-feuding Senate and stalling important votes for purely partisan gain.
The longest uninterrupted filibuster on record belongs to South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who stopped a vote on a 1957 civil rights bill for 24 hours and 18 minutes. A filibuster is often an effort of several Senators, but can also be done by a single Senator.
The only way to stop one is by invoking cloture — which forces a vote to take place. Cloture, adopted in 1917, used to require two-thirds of the Senate to agree to stop the talking. But with a two-thirds vote difficult to obtain (just four out of 23 cloture movements were successful between 1919 and 1960), the Senate changed the rule in 1975 to require just three-fifths' approval. More
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