Welcome to the 'You Can't Stop Us Now' Era

Posted by Bobby Eberle
July 1, 2009 at 7:05 am

The last contested race in the U.S. Senate has been decided. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled that former comedian Al Franken will be the state's new senator. This gives the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate.

Who would have imagined? Just a few election cycles ago, Republicans controlled everything: the House, the Senate, and the White House. Now, not only have the Republican numbers been decimated, but with Al Franken in the Senate, the Democrats have a filibuster-proof super majority. This means, as long as they stay together, the Democrats can pass anything and everything they wish.


As noted by the Associated Press:

Franken's victory over Republican Norm Coleman gives Democrats 60 Senate seats, the critical number needed to overcome Republican filibusters. When Franken is seated, which could come as early as next week, his party will have a majority not reached on either side of the aisle in some three decades.

Coleman conceded the election hours after a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Franken -- who moved into politics with books poking fun at conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh -- should be certified the winner. In doing so, Coleman pulled the plug on a bitter election that was decided by 312 votes out of almost 2.9 million cast.

Three decades! Three decades since one party has been so outnumbered. This is absolutely pathetic.

Here's a video from Fox News as the story was breaking. Please note that Sen. Norm Coleman has since conceded and will not challenge in federal court:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nSPgtIn ... r_embedded

Reaction to the ruling has been swift. Here is a sampling:

Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Executive Director Michael Thielen
Today's decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court is terribly unfortunate for voters in the state, and fails to uphold their constitutional due process and equal protection rights. By refusing to address the voters' concerns, the court has ensured that up to 4,000 voters were disenfranchised. The decision also ensures votes throughout the state were subject to different standards. Specifically, the rejected absentee ballots in question mostly came from precincts that Senator Coleman carried on Election Day. Unfortunately, these voters' counties had a stricter standard for counting ballots than others throughout Minnesota. The result was that some voters had their ballots counted while others did not, even if their ballot had the same problem or abnormality.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele
I am deeply disappointed in the decision made by the state Supreme Court, and I share the frustration of Minnesota's voters. At the core of our democracy lies two concrete principles: No valid vote should go uncounted and all votes should be treated equally. Sadly, those principles were not adhered to during this election. While I would have proudly stood behind Norm Coleman had he chosen to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, I know that his decision to withdraw from this race was not an easy one, but one that he felt was the best decision for the people of Minnesota.

Sen. John Cornyn
The implications of this Senate race are particularly significant because the Democrats will now have 60 votes in the Senate. With their supermajority, the era of excuses and finger-pointing is now over. With just 59 votes, Senate Democrats in recent months have passed trillion-dollar spending bills, driven up America's debt, made every American taxpayer a shareholder in the auto industry and now want Washington to takeover America's health care system. It's troubling to think about what they might now accomplish with 60 votes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC8_XBUs ... r_embedded

It is more than "troubling" to see the situation that we are now in. The simple majority the Democrats have in the House is enough to get legislation passed. In the Senate, it is a different story because of the filibuster. This tool allows any senator to prolong debate indefinitely. In practical terms, a filibuster usually means the end of the road for a piece of legislation or nominee. It takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster, and with the Senate typically closely divided, the party out of power could still stop the majority party from steamrolling anything and everything. Oops... the Democrats now have 60 votes, so even the filibuster option is gone.

The only hope for Republicans is to return to their conservative roots and start winning back seats in 2010. The Democrats control everything, and thus the condition of the country is entirely in their laps. The American people will be able to decide if this is the "change they can believe in."

The shocking nature of the legislation we've seen since Barack Obama became president is not the real tragedy here. The real tragedy is that the Republican Party handed control to the Democrats by not doing what the people elected them to do. They ran under a conservative agenda and became big-government Democrats instead.

http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=1673