George,

Harry Reid needs to get his act together. The all-nighter stunt yesterday was a prime example of poor judgment and fecklessness. Why did Reid have the Senate Democrats stage a fake filibuster (which was highly unlikely to result in an up or down vote) when he could have forced the Republicans to mount a real filibuster which would likely to have ended with passage of the Levin-Reed amendment?

When the Levin-Reed amendment was introduced on Tuesday, a cloture motion should have been brought up immediately. It would not have receive the necessary 60 votes to end debate. Fine. Let the debate begin! Force the Republicans to hold the floor all day and all night for two or three days -- however long it would take to wear them down or get 60 votes on another cloture motion. At the end of this Republican filibuster, the next order of business would have been an up or down vote on the Levin-Reed amendment. It would have received 52 votes and passed. Yes, this set of procedures would have taken time but probably only one or two days and nights more than the ridiculous cot show the Democrats put on Tuesday night.

In this scenario, it would have been the Republicans who would have received criticism for delay. It would have been Republicans showing clearly that they wanted to stay the (failing) course in Iraq. Instead, the Democrats were the brunt of many a late-night comedians' jokes and the subject of criticism from many commentators.

All Harry Reid needs to do to break the 60 vote rule in the Senate (on any measure) is to call the Republicans' bluff and force them to mount real filibusters. Under current procedures, Republicans need only threaten to filibuster and they can block legislation. Call their bluff. Let the filibusters begin! If Republicans like to sleep on cots and show clearly their obstinacy on popular measures, let them. After the filibusters wind down, Senate Democrats and sensible Republicans can get some important legislation passed on up or down votes. It may take a few more days (and nights) to get to a vote, but all it will take for passage is 51 votes. Far better to have a slow process (with filibusters) that produces results than to have the slow process we have now with no results.

David RePass (Electronic mail, July 19, 2007)