Flustered McConnell filibusters his own bill

This is the high comedy of the day on Capitol Hill. You'll recall when our country was teetering on the edge of an actual fiscal cliff during the last year's debt limit fight, Mitch McConnell came up with a brilliant gambit to allow everyone to win. The basic agreement was the President could raise the limit, Congress could say no but the President could override that and it would take a two thirds vote to override the President. Which would then trigger spending cuts. Or not. It never passed.

So this morning, Mitch, thinking Harry didn't have the votes, thought he was being quite clever when he offered to put that same bill on the floor. Harry said no at first, but changed his mind by this afternoon and said okay, let's have an up or down vote. Being unprepared for this development,McConnell was forced to block his own bill. Word has it this has never happened before:

“The Republican leader objects to his own idea,” Reid declared on the floor. “So I guess we have a filibuster of his own bill.”

Would love to see the youtube of that exchange. Hoping one of the whiz kids will come with it.

Meanwhile, "McConnell claimed he never agreed to hold a simple majority vote on the bill." Of course he didn't. The GOP's entire strategy for obstruction rests on requiring a super-majority for every damn piddly thing that happens in that chamber. Which makes a really good case for filibuster reform. [photo via Addicting Info]