Bunning IS being forced to filibuster and to "own it"
I'm getting really tired of hearing liberal bloggers bitching that Democrats aren't forcing Bunning to filibuster or to "own" his actions. Hello? Every time he blocks unanimous consent he is filibustering - which is an action to prevent the Senate from moving forward and which can only be overcome by filing for cloture. It doesn't have to be somebody reading from the phone book for hours to be a filibuster. And since Democrats started forcing Bunning to deny consent over and over again (we were at 11 refusals before today) the media has picked up on it, started going after Bunning, and following up on other aspects. In what way does Bunning NOT own this now? The thing is, Bunning needs to own it in front of the media in order for it to have any impact. Something done only on the Senate floor in the middle of the night is pretty much known only to the Senators that were there. If this had been resolved on Friday night, would Bunning be as vilified as he is right now? No. Democrats have pushed this hard and aggressively and finally made it stick. And people are bitching because they don't get to see a 78 year old man reading from a phone book in the middle of the night? A little more attention to results and a little less to process, please.
