Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 2 2020 04:13am)
Fine, but then drop the goddamn holier-than-you act. Being the good/smart/noble/norm-upholding side has long been a part of Democratic self-branding, and it still is. The truth is that Democrats stopped acting in good faith too, and it already happened a long time ago. Goes back to at least 2012, if not even 2010. The major difference I see in this regard is that the Democrats still put in effort to give their partisan maneuvers a phony veneer of good faith so that they and their allies in the media can keep painting their side as "the constructive ones, the party of good governance".
Was it a scumbag move by the GOP to block Obama's judicial picks? Absolutely. Is it understandable that they nuked the filibuster to break this blockade? Absolutely. However, none of this absolves the Democrats from the responsibility for the choice they made. They had to pick between upholding the norms and traditions of the Senate, or getting their judicial picks through. They made a choice, and I dont blame them for it. I would have made the same choices in their situation.
They must nonetheless have known the consequences this choice would have further down the road, and I cant let it fly when they blame the other side for their own decision. Upholding norms is no big achievement when everything moves along nicely. Upholding norms when these norms have become inconvenient, that's what characterizes a true institutionalist.
Upholding norms only makes sense when they are followed by both sides. Youre doing some serious double speak right now lol. Its not a moral thing to uphold norms and its not hypocritical to break them when the other side is already breaking them and has therefore rendered them invalid.
The GOP broke the norms by obstructing and the Dems reacted. You might as well be criticizing them for breaking a treaty after being attacked.
This post was edited by Thor123422 on Aug 2 2020 07:16am
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