Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’d had enough of Senate Democrats delaying and obstructing district court judges and executive branch nominees. The current rules allow for 30 hours of debate on these positions. In order to slow down the confirmation of judges and prevent President Trump from filling positions he’s allowed to appoint, Democrats have been taking the full time allotted. If there wasn’t a resolution to the problem, McConnell said he’d change the rules to reduce the debate allocation to two hours (see McConnell Loses Patience With Democrat Intransigence And Moves With Major Change To Senate Rules).
Today, that happened.
Go here to read the rest. The Senate GOP should nuke the remainder of the filibuster also if the Republicans regain the House in 2020. It is fatuous to think that will not be the first order of business once the Democrats have control of Congress and the White House. The Democrats started this process of dismantling the filibuster, and hearing them bleat about it yesterday was music to my ears. There is an argument to be made against this, but not by the hypocritical Senate Democrats.
The difference between the House and the Senate is the House consists of 435 would be senators and the Senate consists of 100 would be presidents.
True, and it is odd when one considers how few Senators make it to the Presidency. Since 1900 we have Harding, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Obama. Of that number, Nixon and Obama were in the Senate briefly. Truman would never have made it to the Presidency without the death of FDR, and the same thing could be said for Johnson in reference to the death of Kennedy. Neither Harding nor Kennedy made much of a mark in the Senate and both went on to gain the Presidency for reasons other than their Senatorial status. The same thing could be said about Nixon and Obama. Not a very good record as a springboard for the top job.
On the other hand, since 1900 the following presidents have been governors: Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, FDR, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43. Of those it is safe to say that Wilson, Coolidge, FDR, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43 would not have been president, but for their service as governors.
I’m on a role. Veeps who became President since 1900: Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Bush 41.
Members of the House who became President since 1900: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Bush 41. That is stunning when one considers how many Representatives there are and how many politicians usually serve in the House, at least briefly, during their careers. All but Ford and Johnson served briefly in the House. Both Ford and Johnson would never have been presidents but for serving as Vice Presidents.
Presidents who went to the White House having held no other elective office, since 1900: Taft, Hoover, Eisenhower and Trump.
Seems like we elect a senator president once every 40 years or so (1920, 1960, 2008). Why? To remind ourselves why it’s a bad idea, that’s why.
I think Truman was pretty good. The rest, not so much. Of course, once again he would never have gotten there on his own.
I’m on a role. Veeps who became President since 1900: Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Bush 41.
All but Bush 41 succeeded to the office. From 1804 to 1956, the vice presidency was not a stepping-stone to the presidency except through succession. Prior to 1890, VPs who succeeded to the Presidency were not returned to office at the subsequent election or even nominated by their party. Roosevelt was the first, followed by Coolidge and Truman (and still later Johnson). Of all the VPs who did not succeed to the office, only four during that interval ever stood as a candidate in a subsequent general election: Martin van Buren, Millard Fillmore, John Breckenridge, and Henry Wallace. Fillmore and Wallace were third party candidates and Breckenridge a candidate of a regional faction of the Democratic Party. Van Buren was the only one elected (and had a misbegotten term of office). Since 1956, we’ve seen major party nominations taken by outgoing and former VPs 4x; there was no competition in one case and scant competition in two others.
Members of the House who became President since 1900: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Bush 41. That is stunning when one considers how many Representatives there are and how many politicians usually serve in the House, at least briefly, during their careers. All but Ford and Johnson served briefly in the House. Both Ford and Johnson would never have been presidents but for serving as Vice Presidents.
Johnson was the Senate Majority Leader. He also placed 2d at the 1960 Democratic Convention.
I think Truman was pretty good. The rest, not so much.
He’s distinguished from Obama and Nixon in that he’d held an executive position for eight years to their zero. Read accounts of the Nixon administration and what hits you is what a wretched administrator he was; contrast with Ronald Reagan, who was a natural in an executive position. (Carter and Johnson had issues with time management and setting priorities. Per his aide-de-camp and admirer John Roche, Johnson also had a terrible time firing poor performers Truman did it with alacrity).
Procedural streamlining would help. Another thing that would help would be to reduce the number of appointees subject to Senate confirmation through a combination of administrative re-organization and legislative discretion. Also, you might assign the task of confirmation hearings in select cases to ad hoc select committees – four members of the majority and three of the minority, names picked out of a hat each time. You could do that for the ordinary run of federal judges, for U.S. Attorneys, and for ambassadors, in lieu of having hundreds of nominations handled by two Senate committees.
Johnson was the Senate Majority Leader. He also placed 2d at the 1960 Democratic Convention.
Showing how times have changed, he got into the race a week before the Convention, as did Adlai Stevenson II, hoping, I guess, that third time really would be the charm. Still some mystery among some historians as to why Kennedy asked Johnson to be his running mate. Not for me. Kennedy knew that as Catholic Northerner, he would be weak in the South and that Johnson would help a lot. Besides, there was a streak of cruelty in Kennedy, and I think he enjoyed having the mighty Majority Leader reduced to being his errand boy. Johnson didn’t like it, but he figured as a Southerner his only route to the Presidency was as Veep.
Wm. Schneider has said that opinion research indicates that the VP candidate is good for 2% of the vote in his home state, and that there’s more downside risk than upside benefit in VP selections. The Kennedy ticket won Texas with a 2% plurality.
For the reasons Schneider delineated, ticket-balancing is now atypical. Hellary seemed to have reached for an established vote getter ensconced in a closely-divided state. Trump seems to have offered a courtesy gesture to the evangelical bloc. Best I can tell, Romney was looking for someone who knew his way around Congress and had a (transiently) good reputation in Tea Party circles. Obama’s selection of Biden seems just random. McCain appears to have sought a PR splash, then assigned to his running mate insider dolts and grifters who manufactured embarrassments.
The cynic in me says McLame was looking for a patsy.
The cynic in me says McLame was looking for a patsy.
For what purpose?
To blame for losing the race he never intended to win.
I’m just as happy with the idea that Palin was Steve Schmidt’s pasty and McCain his dupe.
To blame for losing the race he never intended to win.
No clue why McCain would go to the trouble of running if he ‘never intended to win’. He showed exceedingly poor judgement in hiring Schmidt and Wallace. Since Palin didn’t generate any embarrassments on the level of Thomas Eagleton or Geraldine Ferraro, I’m not seeing how he could blame her.
Governor Palin energized a dull campaign. As governor she successfully negotiated with the oil companies for AK citizens to receive revenues from those companies. Having seen the pair, actually trio (Cindy McCain never far from his side) at campaign rallies it was obvious that the crowd came for Sarah. McCain was uncharacteristically wooden not the spitfire he was on the floor and in committee meetings. He seemed drugged.
The Dems were afraid of Palin’s possible future and with the media did their best to destroy her and her family. Articulate, savvy smart, pro-life in word and deed, working class, happily married and attractive, I’ve always thought Mrs. McCain was extremely jealous of her. Of course, there was no Ivy Leaguer on the ticket and that just wouldn’t do for the Eastern establishment.
I’ve always thought Mrs. McCain was extremely jealous of her. Of course, there was no Ivy Leaguer on the ticket and that just wouldn’t do for the Eastern establishment.
I’ve had the impression Cindy McCain was the source of insults directed at Gov. Palin.
Dole / Kemp, Nixon / Agnew, Goldwater / Miller, Eisenhower / Nixon were all tickets with no Ivy on them.
Should point out that in the last 60-odd years, only one person from the Northeast (Hugh Scott) has led either Republican caucus in Congress, and he retired 40-plus years ago. There’s been only one Republican presidential candidate in the last 90 years who was raised in the Northeast and made his career there – Donald Trump.
McCain was like a dog that finally caught the car and had no idea what to do next, after he got the nomination. I think he was really stunned that the media turned on him so relentlessly, he was fool enough to think that they would treat him the same in a general election when he was running as the Republican standard bearer rather than the quotable Republican who bashed other Republicans. Throughout most of the Fall campaign he was running for good loser, ever eager to “suspend” his campaign. It also didn’t help that most of his campaign staff had only contempt for the average Republican voter, and that disdain leaked through. The truly stunning thing is that McCain learned absolutely nothing from that debacle.
“The truly stunning thing is that McCain learned absolutely nothing from that debacle.” How true. McCain was oppositional and defiant throughout his life. He must have been a difficult child to raise. His call sign was “Playboy” but he was referred to negatively as a maverick.
Cindy McCain was the Other Woman in McCain’s first marriage. Other Women are frequently insecure. She appeared to be jealous of the younger Palin who drew more press time and bigger crowds than her husband. Mrs. McCain dressed to look younger and younger as the campaign wore on. The behind the scenes backstabbing of the McCain/Palin campaign and probably her husband’s last book surely was orchestrated by Mrs. McCain.
Cindy McCain was the Other Woman in McCain’s first marriage.
His association with Cindy Hensley prevented a reconciliation with Carol. However, he met her after his separation from Carol.
A fairly harsh critic of McCain I correspond with remarked that he elected to be buried back east and buried in a veterans’ cemetery rather than a plot he could occupy alongside Cindy. It’s a four hour drive from where Carol lives.
Throughout most of the Fall campaign he was running for good loser, ever eager to “suspend” his campaign. It also didn’t help that most of his campaign staff had only contempt for the average Republican voter, and that disdain leaked through. The truly stunning thing is that McCain learned absolutely nothing from that debacle.
I’d have said there was so much headwind against him that I wouldn’t blame him for being demoralized. However, he elected to be in the campaign and was attempting to do something which had not been accomplished in nearly two centuries: win a 3d term at the wheel of the federal executive while the economy was tanking.
He made no effort to counter the Democratic / media narrative that the Republicans were to blame for the financial crisis, even though Barney Frank had worked to sabotage legislation that McCain had sponsored in efforts to improve the accounting practices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Don’t know that ‘most’ of his campaign staff felt that way, but without a doubt Steven Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace did. Robert Stacy McCain, who was deputy editor of The Washington Times for many years, believes that’s the default setting of Capitol Hill Republicans.