Comments on: No backtracking on torture http://rc3.org/2008/12/04/no-backtracking-on-torture/ Strong opinions weakly held Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:46:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Rafe http://rc3.org/2008/12/04/no-backtracking-on-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-3317 Rafe Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:01:50 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=8755#comment-3317 <p>It's a tough one, since it's hard to count threats of filibuster in any official way. Even so, the Republicans have used the filibuster a heck of a lot after trying to get rid of it entirely not so long ago. As far as the claim goes, I read it somewhere, and was unable to find any helpful statistics or charts to back it up.</p> It’s a tough one, since it’s hard to count threats of filibuster in any official way. Even so, the Republicans have used the filibuster a heck of a lot after trying to get rid of it entirely not so long ago. As far as the claim goes, I read it somewhere, and was unable to find any helpful statistics or charts to back it up.

]]> By: Chuck http://rc3.org/2008/12/04/no-backtracking-on-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-3306 Chuck Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:40:47 +0000 http://rc3.org/?p=8755#comment-3306 <p>Can you document the claim that "current Republicans have used the filibuster more than any other Congress in history?" Cursory searches yield no firm stats on filibuster usage by each congressional term. There is substantial anecdotal evidence of its use by both sides for well over 100 years. The most egregious modern examples of filibusters were those used by Democrats in an attempt to stop most civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 60s, including (then Democrat) Strom Thurmond and the always-delightful Democrat Robert Byrd.</p> <p>Given that filibuster is primarily a minority party tool, and that Democrats have maintained a Senate majority for most of the past 60 years, the general tilt should be towards the Republicans, but the idea that the most recent Republican minority has set some sort of record seems unlikely.</p> Can you document the claim that “current Republicans have used the filibuster more than any other Congress in history?” Cursory searches yield no firm stats on filibuster usage by each congressional term. There is substantial anecdotal evidence of its use by both sides for well over 100 years. The most egregious modern examples of filibusters were those used by Democrats in an attempt to stop most civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 60s, including (then Democrat) Strom Thurmond and the always-delightful Democrat Robert Byrd.

Given that filibuster is primarily a minority party tool, and that Democrats have maintained a Senate majority for most of the past 60 years, the general tilt should be towards the Republicans, but the idea that the most recent Republican minority has set some sort of record seems unlikely.

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