Many right-wing voices have decried today's decision on the filibuster. Amazingly, the commenters at Free Republic were all for it.
First of all, it's not "The Nuclear Option." It's "The Constitutional Option" because, as Mike10542 explains:
...because it reflects the fact that they are restoring the constitution and what the founders intended for nominations.
Indeed,
CharlesWayneCT provides the ultimate Freeper Constitutional argument:
I looked through the constitution, and I couldn't find the word "filibuster" anywhere.
CharlesWayneCT also lays out the basic fact that elections have consequences:
the people of the country, by electing a president, have expressed their will, and should be honored.
HonestConservative takes that a step further, observing that the "illegal filibuster" is a cynical way of nullifying elections (he also misspells "undo"):
If the Illegal filibuster of judges is not terminated, it becomes precedent. ... That is their intention; To undue the work of the majority of the voters.
planekT anticipates some chaos in the Senate, but sees it at worth it in the long run:
I'm still for ending the fillibusters. It just seems like the right to do. It might get ugly for a while, but I'll survive with the Senate shut down for a spell, no problem.
MJY1288 thinks that a majority is something you need to use:
Someone needs to remind these fools that they are in the Majority now, and they need to act like it. THAT'S All!
Taking the fight to the streets, IleeneWright posted a boilerplate letter that people could use to write Republican Senators.
The Constitutional Option may well be one of the most important legislative battles of this century and our only hope to place common sense judges on the federal bench.
Despite all of the Freeper support for the Nuclear Option,
MainFrame65 anticipates that the Republicans will block this sensible plan:
I don't agree with all of this, but it certainly is true that the Senate RINO faction would blow such an attempt out of the water, which would undeniably lock the current situation in place by precedent until they found 60 - not a mere 50 - votes to restore the Senate to doing the people's business.
Of course, some Freepers were concerned about the future. Here,
TheEaglehasLanded predicts what Democrats might do in the future:
Then the Dems get in power and start getting their judges thru on party line votes because they will use the nuclear option. They'll say the Republicans were going to do it and threatened us with it, now lets see how they like it.
Wait... this is what just happened. Holy shit, these posts are from 2004 and 2005! Oops!
Well, since this prediction came to pass, let's see how they like it:
For over 200 hundred years, the institution worked. well, sort of..
Now this.. when despots are in power , no one is safe. not even a minority party in the Senate.
Of course, who could think otherwise?
UPDATE: I haven't posted in forever and now I make the rec list. Thank you, everyone.
If you really want a treat, read David "I have a job because I'm Rush's brother" Limbaugh's passionate case for the "Constitutional Option" from April 2005. It is
schadenfreude-a-riffic. Here's a taste:
The reason we're even talking about a so-called " nuclear option" is that Democrat leaders remain in denial about their consistent drubbing at the ballot box. They won't accept that the public has rejected their message.
...
In response, Republicans have threatened that unless the Democrats quit breaking the rules, they will implement a formal rule change to effect a restoration of the status quo such that judicial nominees can be confirmed on a simple majority vote of the Senate.
It's not a long read. The smattering of comments are also a laugh riot.