TPM: Inside 'Bunning-Gate': How The Democrats Brought Bunning Around

[sabra]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/inside-bunning-gate-how-the-democrats-brought-bunning-around.php

Inside 'Bunning-Gate': How The Democrats Brought Bunning Around
Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 3, 2010, 12:58PM


Despite outward appearances that Sen. Jim Bunning's (R-KY) filibuster of the unemployment benefits extension was partisan gridlock at its worst, Democratic sources tell TPMDC that the Bunning's one-man government shutdown actually united partisans on both sides toward a common goal: breaking the filibuster. Democrats are calling the affair "Bunning-gate."

According to Democratic sources in the Senate, Republicans were pressuring Bunning behind the scenes to relent on his filibuster -- even as many Republicans seemed uninterested in saying so publicly. But Bunning's relationship with his party isn't exactly rosy, so the Republican appeals had no effect.

In the end, the Democrats ended the standoff by promising Bunning votes they say he knows he will lose: first came his amendment to the unemployment bill, which failed last night. There's more coming, say Democratic sources -- the party agreed to allow more of his legislation to reach the floor, even though everyone knows the bills are doomed to fail.

Exactly what's in the additional Bunning bills is not yet known. But the deal shows "Bunning-gate" will have longer legacy than just last night's vote on the floor. Bunning orginially blocked a unanimous consent resolution that would have passed the 30-day extension on the bill because he said its estimated $10 billion pricetag would add to the deficit.

...

"He had to have something to make him back down," a top Democratic Senate aide told TPMDC.

[Warpy]

1. I thought it was because Reid told Republicans they'd be there all night

until that extension got passed and it was up to them to make the old fool turn reasonable for a change.

[jwirr]

2. I do not like deal making any more than the next guy but it has always

been a part of getting things done in Congress. What do you think LBJ was doing that is called arm twisting. I have been watching politics since the early 1950s. Deals have always been part of the system. I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.

[zbdent]

3. maybe it was because the "liberal media" was getting wind that it was

starting to make the Repugniconvicts look bad, and that it was starting to show in the "liberal media" ...