Harry Reid and Mike McConnell agreed that before the Republicans got their way the Democrats could have a show vote. The “Show Vote” allows Democrats to tell their constituents that they voted to tax BILLIONAIRES while going along with the Republicans plan to divert $ 700 BILLION over ten years into the pockets of the UltraRich.
The vote was 53 to 36 in favor of permitting the tax cuts to expire for MILLIONAIRES and up. 53 to 36!!!??? Doesn’t that mean that the Democrats won? They received more votes than the Republicans did however the vote is rigged in favor of the Republicans. The Democrats had to deliver 60% or a supermajority to win while the Republicans needed only 40% plus one.
Now it works this way: The vote wasn’t really a vote on the tax cuts. The vote was to stop the Republicans from filibustering (talking nonstop to prevent voting). When did the Republicans filibuster? They didn’t, all they did was say that they would. The Democrats, nice guys that they are, wouldn’t want to trouble the Republicans to actually go thru the inconvenience of a filibuster.
Well, didn’t the Democrats do the same thing when they were in the minority? No, they talked about it but didn’t have the guts to actually do a filibuster. After all, the Republicans, when in the majority, told the Dems that if they should attempt a filibuster against a Republican measure, the Republicans would just repeal the rule allowing filibusters.
What!?!?
Yes, you see while it takes 60% to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote. It takes only a simple majority to repeal the rules.
So why don’t the Democrats use their majority to abolish the filibuster rule? You’re beginning to get it. They could, they have the votes but they don’t want to. This way everybody benefits. The BIG CONTRIBUTORS get their millions, the Republicans get the credit from the UltraRich, the Dems also get a wink and a nudge and also get to play to the cheap seats that they are working hard for working people.
The whole thing was a show.
The O, who is working to negotiate a deal, will agree to give the Republicans whatever they want and the Republicans will agree to take everything they can. This will then be fussied and dressed up as a Great Compromise. Who wins? Obama, Republicans in Congress and Democrats in Congress, and their bosses, the UltraRich. Who loses? The American people. But in our system, we don’t count especially as long as we continue to be bamboozled by such televised 3-card-Monty games as displayed on C-SPAN.
The Dissenting Democrat 