Senate

Deja Vu

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | March 25, 2010 | +

If you happened to have turned on C-SPAN in the last half hour you may have noticed the Senate was full of senators but no vote going on. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid convened the upper chamber to try and get consensus on how to proceed after Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, objected to proceeding to a one-month extension of unemployment benefits. Sound familiar? It’s exactly the same thing that happened with Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, a month ago. Last time, though, Dems forced Bunning into what was essentially a one-man five-day filibuster which the country watched in horror as the benefits expired. Both Coburn and Bunning are upset the bills were unpaid for.

This time, Reid has gathered the whole Senate together to figure out what to do. Given that the Senate was meant to adjourn on Friday for a much-anticipated two-week Easter recess, a lot of senators who are now having to cancel or postpone flights home or abroad are probably none-too-pleased with Mr. Coburn. Reid can overcome the objection but that would mean voting at midnight on Sunday at the earliest. Though, Coburn’s objection could have a silver lining for at least one senator: Reid was probably not looking forward to the massive Tea Party protest led by Sarah Palin due to be held Saturday in his home town of Searchlight, Nevada.

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Related Topics: Easter recess, Sarah Palin, Senate, tom coburn, unemployment benefits, 2012 Election, Congress, Democratic Party, Economy, Harry Reid, Republican Party, Sarah Palin, Senate

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  • http://www.ghostnote.com Cookie Puss

    Maybe they can cancel a few federal projects in Oklahoma to pay for the unemployment extension.

  • http://www.simonvinkenoog.nl/beeld/Yogi%20-%20Annelies%20Rigter.jpg yogi

    What no spring break? Now where am I going to get the next edition of “senators gone wild”?

  • deconstructiva

    Jay, thanks for mentioning Sarah’s Searchlight tea party. Will this be a Right Wing Burning Man festival? Would Sarah dress mannequins in her $150k outfits and then torch them? re: Searchlight, Reid’s home base is a handy pit stop between Las Vegas and Laughlin but the landscape is quite barren.
    .
    As for the Senate: pull all-nighters! Jay, if this happens, can you and Amy get some sleep and make new swampers Alex and Adam work the graveyard shift? Then again, maybe slightly less-crazy R’s like Snowe and Voinovich would say at 4 am, “Fine, Reid, you win, whatever. Let’s end this already and get some sleep.” …and you two would want to post that here, yes?

  • carotexas1

    Thank you Jay, I have c span on line and have been trying to figure out what is going on.

    C Span posted that they have sent the Sargent at arms to look for senators. Is this Karen’s filibuster?

  • gysgt213

    .senator: Reid was probably not looking forward to the massive Tea Party protest led by Sarah Palin due to be held Saturday in his home town of Searchlight, Nevada.
    .
    Is Searchlight like really tiny? 5 to 10 thousand is massive? They had 72 thousand for Justin Bieber at the Houston Rodeo last week and didn’t call it massive.

  • deconstructiva

    …if we can get Stormy Daniels to run against and beat Vitter, that will solve itself. I doubt Feinstein and Gillibrand are up to the task. Ensign maybe, but only with the married women. And if he pays them off.

  • http://www.simonvinkenoog.nl/beeld/Yogi%20-%20Annelies%20Rigter.jpg yogi

    Haha, right wing buring man…what I wouldn’t pay to see a bunch of right wingers tripped out of their minds burning stuff…wait a second…

  • deconstructiva

    It’s tiny. But well-placed on the map for potty breaks.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searchlight,_Nevada

  • kevin

    Maybe if the tea party nutjobs took acid, they’d start behaving rationally and stop hallucinating.

  • spob
  • diecash1

    Speaking of pathetic…….
    ..
    That blog you linked to does nothing to refute the incidents that occurred at the protest last weekend. It only cast spurious accusations at Congressman Clyburn .
    ..
    Nice job Spob and way to link to an irrelevant and OT blog post. Keep on believing that line of BS.

  • deconstructiva

    I’m glad they found the missing Senators, no more watching paint dry. When the Senators were called out by name, did we hear: “…Mr. McCain…” McCain snaps awake: “Get off my lawn! …oh wait, are we voting? I vote no, whatever it is.”

  • gysgt213

    Don’t expect anything less from Spob. He goes to these right wind sites and is on point with all the BS they are spewing.

  • apr2563

    Awful thing to say, but everytime they show Senator Byrd propped up in his wheel chair looking dazed, I have a horrible wish that he will slide to the floor and the Repulicans will feel some shame.
    But, I know they would say a Democrat pushed him.

  • newfreedomblog

    Oh more one-sided commentary from the far left liberal extremist Journalist from TIME.com. Thank you Jay (I love all things Communist and Socialist) Newton-Small.
    .
    What will you next post be about? More Republican/Conservative/Tea Party Patriot bashing?

  • freeinpa

    “It only cast spurious accusations at Congressman Clyburn”

    Isn’t that the exact game plan for themedia and the looney left? Make spurious accusations against the right and then feel morally superior.

    Politico ran some story about a coffin and made the “spurious” accusation that it was a death threat without proof or checking. Seems it was a pro-life protest. I guess those kind of actual deaths the left ignores. Politico changed the story without admitting the original one was wrong.

    Typical of the lying left.

  • freeinpa

    No where hear either for the fact deprived left or the knee jerk liberal journalists do you find any comment that Reid reached an agreement with Coburn on how to pay for the bill and it was rejected by the House leadership.

  • diecash1

    No freeper, lying is what the Repubs have been doing consistently for a long time. WMDs, illegal wire tapping, the variety of Orwellian-named programs under W and they continued right on throughout the HC debate with death panels, socialism, etc.
    ..
    It was nice that you and Spob could attempt to come up with some false equivalence though. As per my original comment, everything in Spob’s link was BS and an attempted smear. It’s sad that you and Spob et al. cannot admit that the actions of a number of Tea partiers and Republicans have acted despicably. Since when is what they did okay?
    ..
    When exactly did Politico become part of the “left-wing” anyway?

  • newfreedomblog

    Yes, freeinpa, the only “Deja Vu” about this post is the continued Conservative BASHING by TIME.com Journalists.
    .
    Yea for America!!! Go Barack Go!!!

  • newfreedomblog

    Nice job Spob and way to link to an irrelevant and OT blog post. Keep on believing that line of BS.

    .
    Nice job indeed, spob. “diecash” doesn’t want the Democrats to incite anymore. She/he is scared now. She/he is now afraid the big bad boogeyman is gonna go to Washington and protest some more.
    .
    Democrats and Liberals like diecash are ONLY in favor of protesting when it is “Kill Bush”, not “KILL THE BILL”.

  • diecash1

    rustyblogwhore, you are the dumbest type of troll posting here though your other alter-ego, aussiefare is giving you a run for your money.
    ..
    It’ll be a cold day in hell when I worry about ~1500 idiots protesting a bill in DC.
    ..

    “diecash” doesn’t want the Democrats to incite anymore

    If by “incite” you mean pass a bill, then yes I want the Democrats to continue. I realize in your addled brain you can’t really see or understand what is happening but feel free to stop and take off your idiot blinders for a minute to gain some perspective. The Repubs and their fellow tea party morons are the ones actually inciting violence (and carrying it out in some cases) but you don’t want to talk about that.
    ..
    BTW, where is your video evidence of Democratic officials inciting violence?

  • freeinpa

    diecash1

    “Repubs have been doing consistently for a long time. WMDs, illegal wire tapping,”

    Were these the same WMDs that Bill & Hillary said Sadaam had? And many of the other Dumos who read the intelligence reports. Or were they full of crap like you are?

    Illegal wire tapping? Who was indicted for that? Seems thats your version of history and the truth. Or just more crap.

  • freeinpa

    That is a generous use of the term journalist

  • diecash1

    Illegal wire tapping? Who was indicted for that

    A lack of an indictment does not mean a crime was not committed. A simple look at what the AT&T whistle blower said would indicate to any reasonable, thinking person (not you) that a crime was committed. The problem is that no one in the Obama administration wants to investigate it. The fact that you cannot even admit that the entire operation was bogus and illegal shows your complete and total bias.

    Or just more crap.

    A fair description of your posts.

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