Promises, Promises

Sahil Kapur at TPM:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday threatened to "go nuclear" on filibuster reform in his strongest terms yet, one day after Republicans completed a triple-filibuster of President Barack Obama's most high-profile judicial nominees.

"I'm considering looking at the rules," said the Nevada Democrat. "All this [talk of the] sacred nature of the filibuster -- I think what we need, and the American people want, is to get things done around here. I'm not talking about changing anything dealing with the Supreme Court or dealing with basic legislation. I am talking about executive nominations."

"I'm at the point where we need to do something to allow government to function," he said. "The obstruction we've seen in the last five years is nothing like we've ever seen before. ... This is not how democracy is supposed to work, or function, and the American people are sick of this."

...

Goddamnit, Harry, stop blathering about it and do it. It is well past time we allowed a majority to govern again.

Everyone Knows It's Wendy! — UPDATED

Wendy Davis

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-TX) successfully filibustered one of the most draconian anti-abortion bills to appear in any state legislature this year, a bill that would have all but banned abortion in Texas.

Davis spoke for over 11 hours, despite Republican attempts to shout her down and at least one warning for speaking off-topic. What off-topic subject did she address? SONOGRAMS. Yeah, right, sure; that's "off-topic," and all GOP legislators are legitimate sons of their fathers.

The best article I've found on the subject is Charles Kuffner's "Filibusted," but I also received a note from Planned Parenthood that there is a move afoot to run a woman for Governor of Texas. What a concept! Somewhere, the late Ann Richards is grinning from ear to ear...

AFTERTHOUGHT: This is of course not over. Gov. Goodhair can call one special session after another, without end, and GOPers have the votes to pass their Worst Nightmare for Women. But at least the bill is dead for the most recent special session, GOPers have a black eye on the national stage, and Wendy Davis is (quite rightly, from what I've seen of her career over the years) the new star of the Democratic Party, at home and elsewhere. She deserves your thanks... and, if you have the money to spare, your campaign donations.

UPDATE 6/27: Davis says she would, in fact, like to run for statewide office. I'm counting down the seconds before Lush Limpbough calls her a "slut" or a "prostitute" ...

UPDATE 6/27: Goodhair Perry slams Davis in public statement; Davis responds. Of course it's possible Perry is merely responding opportunistically, but it seems equally possible to me that Perry sees Davis as a potential rival in 2014.