4 ms·

Frankly speaking, who cares? Is that a good reason to govern badly, because someone else did so? We should expect better from everyone, not just shrug and say

• simonh 10y ago
  "What about"-ism is the death knell of reasoned argument.
• gutnor 10y ago
  That seems to be the rule. Whatever past government set a lower standard, the new government can take that as useful approved governing tool. Really people wonder why politician sometimes fight for nonsensical minor tweaks that look like a waste a taxpayer money, but that's exactly it. Most of the government way of working is ruled by tradition rather than law and new laws are created in case of abuse. After a few cycle of those little games affecting both big parties, they will most likely get tired of it and vote a law that prevent that to ever happen again.
  • koolba 10y ago
    Exactly my point. A "nuclear" level of the same standoff is regarding changing cloture rules. The party in power can do it as a rule change (which can't be filibustered) but nobody has done so till now because they don't want to not be in power when that goes in effect.
    • anigbrowl 10y ago
      Amusingly enough now I am the one to tell you that Harry Reid did in fact do this in 2013, albeit for lower-court appointments. So I guess it was more of a tactical nuke than a strategic one, but that may well be cited as precedent next month. I think there's a high likelihood of the Senate doing exactly that at the beginning of the next term or soon after. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option#Events_of_November_2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option#Events_of_Novem...