In April 2005, when Democrats were blocking a list of Bush nominees and Republicans were threatening to invoke the “nuclear option,” the newly elected junior senator from Illinois, Sen. Barack Obama, took to the floor and sanctimoniously proclaimed that the nuclear option would not only be a violation of democratic principles, but that it would worsen partisanship.
Here are few excerpts from his remarks:
Everyone in this chamber knows that if the majority chooses to end the filibuster – if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate, then the fighting and the bitterness and the gridlock will only get worse.
I urge my Republican colleagues not to go through with changing these rules . . . I sense that talk of the nuclear option is more about power than about fairness. I believe some of my colleagues propose this rules change because they believe they can get away with it rather than because they know it’s good for our democracy.
What (Americans) don’t expect is for one Party, be it Republican or Democrat, to change the rules in the middle of the game, so that they can make all the decision while the other Party is told to sit down and keep quiet.
52 thoughts on “Obama in 2005: Nuclear Option will Make Partisanship Worse”
What a two-faced hypocrite.
If we could only go back in time to stop this Socialist…
If Mike Ditka had only run for that Senate seat ;)
If Jack Ryan had only kept his kinky fantasies to himself.
The records were sealed. Barry should have been charged with burglary (ala Watergate).
Burglary? A judge released them. IIRC, Ryan’s GOP primary opponent was the first to demand they be unsealed.
It was BO’s hack team that suceeded.
I wonder if they would’ve thought of it if Ryan’s opponent hadn’t started it.
This is priceless. Obama makes it so easy to create moments like these, because he is so hyper-partisan and so bold in making statements that suit his needs at the moment, rather than the principle at stake.
In fact, he was right in 2005 and the Reps only threatened. Cooler heads prevailed and the filibuster option remained in place. But now that he’s in power, none of that matters. Turns out it’s not about democracy in action and the classic political process. It is, after all, about power politics, and about one party telling the other to sit down and shut up.
He and Reid and Pelosi are so predictable as to be boring. But they all need to go. The latter two next year (Pelosi to San Francisco, and Reid to the back bench), and then Obama as soon as the new Congress can convene in 2015 and prepare a bill of impeachment to be heard by the newly-Republican Senate.
Obama ‘creates moments like this’
but sadly no one in the “RNC” or the “MSM” seems to have the skill/brains to find these clips of Obama and use them against him…
(Keith excluded :-)
Keith, are you even allowed to show stuff like this?
(clips from Obama’s past that show him to be a clueless, lying, hypocrite who is unqualified to hold any elected position)
Fox does this all the time–shows the earlier statement–is Fox MSM? Last nite, they did the one about how he “taught the constitution for 10 yrs” and knew it backwards and forwards and each branch of govt had its own duties, etc. Now, as we know, he has evolved on this one.
I hope Fox does so on this one.
I turned on Fox at the top of the hour, and was treated to Cavuto going nuts over McDonald’s axing the McRibb.
I see.
It’s all about preserving the democratic process…until you attain power and are able to rip the same process apart for your own gain.
Glad we got that straightened out.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”
Abraham Lincoln, R – Illinois
16th President of the United States
No doubt Honest Abe would see the current shiftless occupant of the once noble office of President as the lawless, characterless person he is.
Say one thing…wait a few years…say the opposite–this is not news with this guy, it’s the way he operates…Situational ethics.
Moral relativity is another term I’ve heard, but I like situational ethics too.
Speaking of this, Juan was just on The Five saying he was at an off-the-record meeting at the WH and they were worried about people who could not even afford the bronze plans and might change those plans…change…the requirements, the in vitro etc??….Let’s hear more about that. Also he said they were dug in–in 6-8 weeks all will be nifty.
Good luck getting anything democratic passed in the Senate for 2014.
Only way that this is going to work is the GOP take the Senate and get enough votes to override any veto and make Obama a lame duck or out on the golf course for the rest of his time.
The minute the Republicans gain control of the Senate, Democrats will be demanding a filibuster rule. And Republicans will give it to them for the benefit of the Republic.
He is taking his cue from his Secretary of State – “I voted for it before I voted against it”. Or maybe he didn’t say it….the vast right wing conspiracy either dubbed the speech after the fact or a ventriloquist threw their voice when he was making a speech supporting the nuclear option…the same way he never drew a red line…the same way he did not say you could keep your insurance policies….When I thought my opinion of the President could not get any lower- he brought out the backhoe
FCMABBHO wouldn’t know a principle if it bit his skinny butt.
He thinks principles are school administrators who don’t make enough taxpayer money.
8-)
Ditto the MSM, Keith. All of a sudden they are praising this move (NYT, WaPo). But whenever the Republicans threatened to do this, it was beyond the pale. I saw one comment on the NYT which said that if the situation were reversed, the Republicans would have not thought twice about doing it. But they had the opportunity in the past, and they did think twice.
Infuriating. Most of us Americans are too distracted to even know that these words were spoken back in 2005, so when the Democrats pull what they pulled today, it’s no big deal. What time does the game start?
Do as I say now, forget what I said once.
Five years of obstructionism, according to Obama.
Well, those nasty Republican Senators are nothing but old racist geezers.
And to prove his point, yesterday’s Medal of Freedom ‘winner’, Oprah Winfrey, sat down with the BBC and expressed her outrage at those hate-filled racists who are trying to destroy her precious litte Barry b/c he is Black “They need to die”, she said.
The nuclear option is racist, but only when it’s used against Obama.
Enjoy that medal, Oprah!
The real point of this battle is the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second most important court in the land. At present, it consists of 4 justices appointed by Republicans, 4 by democrats. They have no backlog and have stated that appointing new members is not an emergency at this time for them.
But there is a large BUT. After Obama’s appointees take their seats, the court’s makeup will be 7:4 D:R and guess what the most important thing that this court does?
TA DA: Rules on the legitimacy of the REGULATIONS put into current laws by the administration.
This is scary folks, really scary!
Yes, it is scary. Federal benches are for life.
I think the whole purpose of this nuclear option is to get the conversation away from Obamacare. I saw a poll this morning that said 58% trust the Republicans more than Democrats on health care. Obama’s approval rating is in the 30’s. They’re desperate in the WH and will do anything and everything to get the MSM to stop talking about Obamacare. Look next for someone to get fired, suspended or something. Desperate times call for desperate measures…
Not that there aren’t other important appointments pending and affected by the nuclear option.
The Fed – Janet Yellen. More quantitative easing; ie, inflation.
The NLRB – Card Check, Right to Work.
FEC – Internet privacy, freedom of speech on radio, TV and for bloggers. The Fairness Doctrine?
There are more, but you get the idea!
Scary!
Those aren’t for life.
You’re right, there not for life, but how difficult is it to undo these regulations once they are imposed?
DHS – Immigration, FBI, TSA, Border Patrol, ICE
DOE – Common Core and other progressive Education
EPA – Carbon Tax, Green Energy
USDA – Food Stamps, farm subsidies
All the next president has to do is get the right persons to head those agencies and change the regulations.
How much damage did Mark Lloyd do at the FCC? He’s back with another Soros organization, the New America Foundation.
Let’s not forget his refusal to fund recovery from Katrina, then ranting against how evil white people were for not voting to fund it.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/02/obama-speech-jeremiah-wright-new-orleans/
Upon further reflection…
I believe this is not a time for outrage. I believe it is a time for celebration.
I believe what we are witnessing is the last, desperate act of scoundrels who know their time is just about up.
I believe this squirrel won’t distract for long, as November 30 is a week and a half hence. And I believe once the health care website isn’t working at that point, the conversation will return to the collapse of progressivism.
I believe we are watching the death throes of a mortally wounded political party.
And I believe we have but a short time to wait, before liberty returns, once more and for all time, to the United States of America.
I hope your are right. But I am not as hopeful as you. There is too much illegality corruption and downright thuggery — embedded and entwined.
OT but along those lines. Juan Willliams now has his Obama wings. Summoned to a private press off the record meeting with the One he cannot comment on what the President s
aid but is free to spew the WH talking points. This is a free press? No this is now a WH propaganda tool employed by Fox News.
” I believe we are watching the death throes of a mortality wounded political party ” Darkangel
That’s why the Repub’s must go on the attack. No more patty fingers.
George C. Scott had a line in the movie PATTON as follows..” I don’t want to hear we’re holding our position, we’re holding nothing,” we are on the attack.
RNC, time to leave the trenches and take the fight to those who have chosen to make Americans the enemy.
Just because they are evil doesn’t mean they can’t get lucky!
I agree.
I can’t take credit for this but it’s worth repeating, ‘Down the short term memory hole.’
Anyone have a total on vacation days BHO has taken since ’09? Keith, how ’bout golf outings this year and total? Didn’t #43 quit playing golf after 9-11?
Yes, Bush quit playing golf after 9-11.
Obama has played golf 40 times in 2013, 151 times during his presidency.
According to Mark Knoller, CBS news, Obama had taken 15 trips and 96 days of vacation by Aug 2013. That figure does not include trips to Camp David.
http://news.yahoo.com/-obama%E2%80%99s-vacations-and-golfing-by-the-numbers–165241111.html
Shall I “sit down and keep quiet” now, Mr. President?
What would Rosa Parks do?
Meet the new boss…
Same as the old boss.
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“What (Americans) don’t expect is for one Party, be it Republican or Democrat, to change the rules in the middle of the game, so that they can make all the decision while the other Party is told to sit down and keep quiet.”
But we have come so far, baby. First the Republicans were told they could ride the bus with the Dems but would have to sit in the back. Now that they are sitting in the back, they need to ‘shut up.’
This isn’t just about the two ruling parties. This is a slap in the face to all ‘US peoples’ who oppose their ideas, bills, etc. The people send their congressmen/women to represent their wishes/will. Essentially Reid, Pelosi, Obama, etc. are giving us the middle finger.
I am curious to find out what blog platform you’re utilizing?
I’m experiencing some minor security problems with my latest blog and I would like
to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any solutions?
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