There Is No Such Thing As A Filibuster Proof Democratic Majority
Atrios on Arlen Specter switching parties:
I hope this works out better than I expect, but 60 nominal Ds doesn’t equal 60 votes.
Right. And Specter isn’t the only D who, as Harry Reid said of Specter, is "with us except when we need him". Whenever I hear republicans fear mongering about a democratic super majority it always puts me in mind of what Will Rogers said: "I am not a member of any organized party – I am a Democrat". There could be just one republican left on Capital Hill, just one lonely republican in the House of Representatives, and there would be enough democrats willing to vote with him, that he could get his way on just about anything.
Democrats don’t like playing hardball. Republicans think bipartisanship is when democrats give them what they want. Until we get more democrats willing to fight for democratic principles (you know…that "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" stuff…), it won’t matter how many democrats there are in congress, the republicans will still control the agenda.
