Let's see if we can put the "Health Care Reform Bill Legislative Tactic Debate" into some perspective.
The Republicans using the parliamentary procedure known as the "filibuster" while insisting it's unfair for the Democrats to use the complimentary procedure known as "reconciliation" is a bit like...
For football fans:... Bill Belichick stacking eight in the box to effectively stop the Colts run game and then seriously expecting Peyton Manning to promise not to pass the ball downfield until time expires.For baseball fans:... repeatedly bunting, while insisting that the opposing defense agree to always be positioned at double play depth.For Bridge players:... your opponent playing a trump card, then demanding, in the name of fairness, that you swear not to play yours.For Chess players:... black opening with the Najdorf Variation, then loudly complaining of unfairness when white considers countering with the Perenyi Attack.For Law & Order fans:... defense counsel doing a fifty box document dump on Jack McCoy's desk during discovery, then going in front of the cameras and insisting he publicly stipulate that he won't hire a speed reader. Bum bum!For aficionados of Rochambeau:... calling on your opponent to rule out covering your "rock" with her "paper".For Republicans:... complaining about the Democratic use of the "filibuster" and then using "reconciliation" (see Bush tax cuts 1 and 2 and their subsequent extension, plus crappy Medicare bill).For everyone else:The filibuster exists as a tool to be utilized by the minority; reconciliation exists as a tool to be utilized by the majority. To avail yourself of a legislative rule that benefits your side while whining that your opponents must categorically rule out a wholly legitimate counter-measure is the height of disingenuousness.
I could do this all night.
Clearly, Republicans in Congress have trouble with the basic concept that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Live by it, die by it, friends. What's good for the goose is good for the... zzzzzzzz.
Sorry, it's all so obvious I just put myself to sleep.
Just like the GOP. "We get to use the poison, but shame on you for using the antidote. Oh, unless we're in charge. Then stop. Strike that. Reverse it."
If Senate Dem leadership wimps out and actually buys this line of shit, then they deserve everything they get. Unfortunately, it's the rest of us who will truly suffer.
