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Nuclear Option Quarterbacking

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 5/23/2005 4:55:18 PM

May 24, 2005 is the day.  Either the Democrats will cut and run, and allow the votes on our President’s appellate judicial nominees, or they will go hard at it and Dr. Frist, Senate increasing majority leader, will fire off the Nuclear option.  Various people are prognosticating.  It’s my turn:  First, there will be no compromise.  The leftists’ "compromise" is nothing less than the right’s capitulation.  Ain’t gonna happen.  It’s obvious that Dr. Frist has the votes to go on with the Nuclear option or he would not have pressed the issue at this time.  So, my second prediction is that the Democrats will seriously consider the possibility of running away to fight another day, and drop the filibuster of these Appellate nominees.  Why?  To preserve their ability to filibuster Supreme Court nominees, of which it appears that two are rapidly coming.

"Now will the Dems be able to cut and run at this stage without alienating their fractious base of extreme left special interests?  That is the key question."

Now will the Dems be able to cut and run at this stage without alienating their fractious base of extreme left special interests?  That is the key question.  Either way, the GOP wins.  If Dr. Frist scares the filibuster out of the leftists, wonderful.  The GOP base will rejoice, knowing that the second that the Dems try another filibuster, he can still set off the Nuclear option.  If Dr. Frist fires off the option, there will be even greater joy, beginning right here at Conservativity.  The GOP base will dance in the streets, knowing that the Constitutional order is restored and the prospect of dishonorable filibuster for political advantage is forever eliminated.  The Supreme Court nominees will sail through the Congress, along with every single appellate and district nominee.  No filibuster will be allowed.

As I’ve previously explained, there is no downside to firing off the option.  The America-hating left-wingers will still hate the GOP and the President unless he converts to atheism and leaves the GOP for the Democratic party.  The GOP base will love their senators even more, and Dr. Frist will have set the stage for an entrance to the 2008 Presidential race.  The fence-sitters will see once again that the GOP is the party of progressive (in the true sense of that word) optimism, the party of true racial and gender equality, the party of action.  In sharp contrast, they will also see the leftist Democrats as the party of whiners who don’t like the rules unless they play to their own advantage, the party of haters of the Constitution, and the party of elitists who want to impose their world view upon those who don’t share it.  So the GOP wins with the undecided swing bloc.

"If the Democrats have any sense at all, any strategic vision at all, any brains at all, they would cut and run.  They can whine to no end about the mean old GOP and their "extremist" judges.  That may satiate some of their irrational base factions."

If the Democrats have any sense at all, any strategic vision at all, any brains at all, they would cut and run.  They can whine to no end about the mean old GOP and their "extremist" judges.  That may satiate some of their irrational base factions.  I know that Rush believes that the left will cave at the last moment.  His reasoning is sound; I simply disagree.  The left will stupidly push Dr. Frist to fire off the option, for the following reasons:

1. Vain Hope:  The Dems will keep on trying to sway six GOP senators to the Dark Side to break the option. However, if that had already happened, the GOP would take one of the compromise offers and save face.  The fact that the option fires off tomorrow means that Dr. Frist has the votes now.  The Dems, however, will lean on this vain hope to try to make chicken s--t into chicken soup.
    
2. The Base:  The contentious, militant, extremist groups that make up the Democratic base are the very "all or nothing" types that they project the GOP to be.  They will push hard for the showdown.  Remember that these people operate under the delusion that most of America supports their extremism.  How many people actually support the Animal Rights agenda of outlawing pets, fur, leather and the eating of meat?  How many people actually support the militant feminist agenda of abortion on demand, including partial birth infanticide, for any or no reason whatsoever?  How many people actually support Howard Dean, whose ideal congressperson is Bernard Sanders, a card-carrying Socialist?  If you listen to the leftists like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Chappaquidick), the country is decidedly liberal, even though they have re-elected a GOP president with a convincing majority mandate, increased GOP control of both houses of Congress, and given the GOP more statehouses and legislatures.
    
   The base denies reality and thinks that their defeat by the Nuclear option will somehow bring a victory.  They will lose their stranglehold on the judiciary, their last bastion of tyranny over the people.  I couldn’t be happier.
    
3. Pride:  These people are prideful.  They want to fight to the death.  The Democrats seem to live by the Japanese Bushido code, and would rather die than back down from a losing fight.  What is ironic is that Sun Tzu, another Oriental sage (from China, not Japan), advised avoiding a fight unless victory was certain.  The Democrats need to go back and read Sun Tzu.

In the end, the leftists will, in my opinion, take this to the bitter end, and will lose the Nuclear option.  They then will be left with the option to take revenge by trying to shut down the Senate.  The end result will be the "thermonuclear option," the complete elimination of the filibuster.  I predict that the leftists will not be able to resist the shutdown revenge gambit.  The result?

Senate Filibusters
1823-2005
Good Riddance!