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McCain the Pain

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 12/15/2004 1:01:03 PM

Pheesh.  John McCain, "Republican" senator from Arizona, held up all of the business at the end of the 108th Congress in order to wrest a concession from Dennis Hastert, Real Republican Speaker of the House from Illinois.  The Concession that was so important to the country’s welfare?  Brace yourselves:  A National Boxing Commission!  You read that correctly.  Speaker Hastert promised prompt House consideration at the beginning of the 109th Congress.  With his little goodie in hand, McCain loosed his stranglehold on Senate Business and things got done, albeit by making the Senate stay in session later than normal.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) introduced a bill in the House to create a national boxing commission.  However, House committees were reluctant to move Senate legislation at the end of a session.  When McCain learned that House leaders were refusing to act on his boxing bill, he attached it to every remaining bill in the Senate, including bills dealing with universal-service transactions and other telecommunications issues.  This was a horrible power play.

McCain’s temper fit, where one person elected by one state can choke off all lawmaking, is ample reason for killing the filibuster, which came into play here, with the GOP libs voting against cloture (cutting off a filibuster).  Most of the time, liberals advocate the death of the filibuster, but now, they are in the minority and the libs against the filibuster have evaporated, except for the truly principled ones.

We will be seeing this soon as the Chief Justice retires and Clarence Thomas is promoted.  We will have to deal with the filibuster, and as we have repeatedly said, thank God that Dr. Frist is ready to press the Nuclear Option button.  We will have to deal with numerous obstructions by desperate socialist libs.  The filibuster needs to die now.