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- The filibuster relies on the assumption that after negotiating in good faith, one of the parties to negotiations can single-handedly hold the passage of legislation to a super-majority vote. What has broken down in this gentleman's agreement, and what Joseph Lieberman has brought front and center, is that parties who negotiate in bad faith still get to use the filibuster. At this point, Lieberman's motivations hardly matter. He has announced to his colleagues that he is unprincipled and cannot be trusted. There is no point in even engaging someone like this anymore. Either end the filibuster or start looking at budget reconciliation, because Lieberman has set the new standard for deliberations in the U.S. Senate.
- Who says there's no consensus in Washington when it comes to jobs and the economy? Over at The Washington Post, Charles Lane proposes, among other things, to cancel the minimum wage hikes enacted by the Democrats when they took over Congress in 2006. Fox News thinks this policy might even help workers. And RNC chairman Michael Steele takes it a step further, proposing slashing the parasitic capital gains tax alongside unemployment benefits. Consensus: the poor must suffer for destroying the economy.
- Let's all take a moment to thank The New York Times' Adam Nagourney for providing us with yet another fascinating glimpse into the career of perhaps the most important politician of our time -- nay, the history of the Republic -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Here we learn that the Maverick is gone, replaced with a conservative "attack dog," freed from the constraints of presidential ambitions to pursue politics in an ever feistier fashion. One scant paragraph discusses McCain's flip-flops on virtually every issue other than war, hardly informing the reader that policy ignorance is McCain's M.O.
- Weekend Remainders: The Supreme Court tackles campaign finance law with potentially significant consequences; anti-intellectualism is still the key to understanding much of the American political landscape; conservatives vastly overstate the ability of blockbuster movies to decisively change culture; political apathy has no tangible benefit; the poor and ignorant will suffer because of climate change; and is America ungovernable?
--Mori Dinauer
