(H/Ts – Sister Toldjah and Matt Lewis)
The NYT reports the ‘Rats are salivating over the prospects of getting a filibuster-proof majority in the 111th Congress to go along with the Oval Office. The numbers seem to suggest that it’s possible; while they hold a 51-49 advantage now for the purposes of caucusing, there are 18 Republican incumbents (including 2 freshly-minted ones) and 5 Republican open seats up for election, while there are only 12 Democratic incumbents up for election. It currently is unlikely they’ll actually get to 60, though it is likely they will pick up 3.
Matt says that a filibuster-proof majority would really change things. Versus the current political/philosophical situation, perhaps a bit, though I tend to believe that is more a function of whether they (or the Pubbies) get a clean sweep rather than whether one party or another gets a filibuster-proof majority. What would really change the operational dynamic is if they fail to get to 60, especially if they get the White House. Unlike the Republicans of the 109th Congress, they may well not hesitate to jettison the filibuster in order to push their agenda through, especially if they do get an absolute majority without Joe Lieberman’s caucusing help.
Conversely, if they do get to 60 (or depending on how the chips fall, simply get close), they won’t need to get rid of the filibuster to get their agenda through. Therefore, they would keep it around as a hedge against the next time things don’t go their way.
They don’t need 60 Dhimmicrats. They have those NE RINOs (Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Arlen “Magic Bullet” Specter, et al.) that essentially vote with the Democrats anyway. A 3 seat gain gives them a filibuster proof working majority.
The thing is, Snowe is one of those up for re-election this year.
Too scary to even contemplate.