Juan Williams made the same charge on NPR yesterday. Needless to say, his evocation of the "nuclear option" went unchallenged. The GOP is rolling out their latest rebranding effort (reconciliation=n.o.) , and the fate of a final healthcare bill may hang in the balance.

What do we do, folks?

Take two IOKIYAR and call your brujo or bruja , in the morning .

the fox soap opera can only garner the ignorant and angry. it is really cool that orwell's 5 minutes of hate is like a 24/7 station.

all they need is big brother over there for the 26%ers to get all shocked and awed, and a b movie portrayal of 1984 breaks out in this country like something out of pro wrestling entertainment. that revolution, my friends, will be televised...

"The right can't govern, but when it comes to message dissemination, they're Propagandists Extraordinaire."
—Steve Benen

Kabisa!

Reconciliation, in contrast, is part of the existing Senate rules. No one's talking about changing anything -- just following the process that's already in place. It's a process that Republicans have used and endorsed many times.

And the Democratic Senators that appear on today's Sunday news shows (assuming any are invited) should say just that and ask the the host why they didn't know that.

Of course, they wouldn't be invited back. But that would just free up more time for the Senators to solicit bribes from their corporate sponsors, so everyone would win.

And Juan Williams may not be a Republican, but he's their paid whore.

I think the use of the term "nuclear option" comes from the idea that in both the Republican judicial nomination issue and the current public option issue, the VP would be required to make a controversial ruling over the interpretation of the rules. In the Republican version Cheney (or the parliamentarian) would have had to rule that a confirmation vote was one of these mundane day to day votes that are not subject to cloture. In the public option case, Biden (or the parliamentarian) would have to rule that none of the Byrd Rule exceptions apply. The Byrd Rule was intended to prevent the Senate from abusing the reconciliation process to pass non-budgetary provisions, but it is so vague that one person (may have been Robert Waldman) argued that it comes down to the meaning of "provision" and "relevant", which aren't defined anywhere.

Remind me again what Democrats got from the Gang of 14's compromise that allower the approval of the conservative judges?

There are a number of Democrats who rely on the obstructionism of Republicans to avoid making hard decisions. Sometimes, it appears that Harry Reid is the leader of that group.

"The rules" are very simple: whatever lets the Republicans win is allowed, and whatever might allow someone to defeat them isn't.

Clear now?

That tired old hack, Juan Williams, has got to go. I used to think NPR would do better than him, but public radio on the national level has become so conventional and corporate, it's hard to distinguish from the commercial media. Oh that's right, the stories are longer, I forgot.

Senator Grassley and Senator Conrad BOTH said on FACE THE NATION that you can't use the reconciliation process for healthcare because it was created only for "deficit reduction".

Really ?

Somebody forgot to tell Chimpy and the Congressional Republicans when they used the reconciliation process to enact tax cuts for the Rich & Corporate which resulted in MASSIVE federal budget deficits.

It's become intolerable. The GOP republican party and the MSM that is owned by them are demonstrating why they are no longer capable of remaining a part of a governing body. They've have been turned out soundly and are so desperate that they are willing to arm the minority and take it to the streets to regain power. When a sitting congressman applauds a self proclaimed terrorist, and the media throws out pure propaganda to incite violence by proclaiming that following senate rules is really a government takeover by dems...it becomes obvious that this group is no longer a functioning part of our democracy. It is a conspiracy to start a civil war funded by these "economic royalists" who refuse to have their power taken from them.

In the '30s vice president Wallace had this to say which is perfectly relevant today:

In his strongest indictment of the tide of fascism the Vice President of the United States saw rising in America, he added:
“They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.”

Finally, Wallace said, “The myth of fascist efficiency has deluded many people. … Democracy, to crush fascism internally, must…develop the ability to keep people fully employed and at the same time balance the budget. It must put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels.”

HC reform is putting people first and dollars second and the private profiteers can not tolerate that so they set about to demonize all of government and it's institutions and yet we are the government...we are the majority...it is the minority that seeks to take away the democratic process because they cannot stand being the minority or letting anyone else govern besides them. We must not let that happen. We must stand for the truth and for the people so as to be overwhelming.

I've noticed a slight change in the GOP talking point:

If someone points out that Bush used reconciliation in 2001,2003 and 2005, they respond:

"But they were all deficit-reduction-related" (when in reality, that's what created the deficit, moreover that 's not in the rules)

Expect to see a lot of that new lie in the coming weeks...