Hysteria on Capitol Hill
FILIBUSTER : 1. To use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body. 2. a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches. The term comes from the early 19th century Spanish and Portuguese pirates, "filibusteros", who held ships hostage for ransom.
When 87 year old West Virginia Democratic Senator and former KKK Chieftain Robert Byrd took the stage at the latest MoveOn Rally, and the standing ovation died down, he brandished a copy of the US Constitution. He rattled off a list of "Republican actions" that he disagrees with, including privatization of Social Security and spending "a billion dollars a week" in Iraq (no sources were quoted). "Are we going to be bullied by a majority that wants to silence us on all of these issues? There must be no gag rule in the Senate!"
WTF?
Despite the shrill screams of hysteria emanating from the radical fringe (and Senator KKK Byrd's and Senator Boxer's curious change of tune on the issue of the filibuster -- seems they were both for eliminating the filibuster when democrats controlled the Senate), eliminating the filibuster simply makes it possible for the Senate to vote on the legislation before it. Filibusters are stall tactics by a minority who oppose legislation that they cannot stop from proceeding through legitimate debate, so they hold the entire Senate "hostage" -- effectively grinding the business of legislation to a halt to get what they want.
The Senate is a place of debate, and Senators are elected to bring that debate to its conclusion, voting on legislation which represents the will of the people. If the majority of the Senators are conservatives, then that means that the majority of the electorate is interested in conservative representation and conservative legislation. A filibuster is designed to prolong the debate indefinitely, withholding a conclusion and, thereby, killing the vote.
It's past the point of reason for a liberal minority in the Senate to effectively call a strike against all legislative business and then scream "dictatorship" and "banana republic" when the majority attempts to find its way around their pirate tactics.
And it boggles my mind that a former KKK Democratic Senator has the audacity to brandish the US Constitution while throwing a public temper tantrum about being "bullied" by a majority . . . as if the US Constitution ever meant a d*mn thing to Robert Byrd while he was wearing his white hood and setting crosses aflame throughout West Virginia.
ADDENDUM:
Republican leaders put the ANWR provision in a Budget resolution because Budget Bills can't be filibustered, and only need a simple majority to pass, rather than the 60 vote minimum.