Make them talk Harry

Slow news day and the internets are especially annoying. Best thing I've read is E.J. Dionne's op-ed on the GOP tax cuts. He doesn't say much about those that we didn't already know, but this point on our broken Senate is worth reiterating.

When our republic was created, the population ratio between the largest and smallest state was 13 to 1. Now, it's 68 to 1. Because of the abuse of the filibuster, 41 senators representing less than 11 percent of the nation's population can, in principle, block action supported by 59 senators representing more than 89 percent of our population. And you wonder why it's so hard to get anything done in Washington?

Not just in prinicple but in practice. Continuously. But I still blame Harry Reid for allowing it to happen. Everytime the GOPers throw up their filibuster threat, I read that he's going to negotiate more amendments to weaken bills instead of standing his ground and making them actually filibuster. If made he them stand at the podium and talk where the public could watch on CSPAN, I'm pretty sure this tactic would lose its luster.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]