During the great long healthcare debate, everyone kept asking why the Dems didn't use cloture, even though they could, in principle, win one. Now, when they can not, in principle, win a cloture vote -- they Just Do Not Have The Votes(TM) -- they file for cloture, and suddenly it works. Doesn't that seem bizarre?
It isn't, though. Reid did it this time because it's great politics, and we can thank Scott Brown -- or, at least, the people of Massachusetts -- for that.
During HCR, everyone expected the Dems to win any cloture vote they brought to the floor, and, therefore, there was no pressure on any Republican to simply say "They don't need us. If they can't hold their troops in line, then that's their problem, not ours." And, conversely, the votes cast by any Democrat on such an issue really mattered -- if you were a Dem, and voted "no", you would be the difference between success and failure, and if you were a Dem and voted "yes", then you were really voting to consider the final package. It wasn't a free vote -- if sixty aye votes came out of the pipeline, then the bill was going to be debated, and it was going to pass.
Thus, Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and all had votes which the Democrats had to get, and they knew that they would have to run on those votes. So they had every reason to make sure that they could "defend" those votes when they went home to their home states. Conversely, Harry Reid needed to have each of those votes, and so he had to keep dealing until he could get all of them.
The situation now is completely different. The Dems can all vote in unison for cloture on anything, and, if they don't get it, they can say "Look, we did what we could, but the Republicans blocked us." The shoe is now on the other foot -- the Republicans need to keep every vote, and every Republican vote counts.
And here's where we see the real disadvantage of being in the minority. Mitch McConnell has nothing to give to his people to keep them in line. He can't force anything through; all he can do is stop things. And the Democrats can keep throwing popular bills at his folks forever, and force really painful cloture votes out of them, again, and again, and again. These votes are free for the Dems -- if they win, they get a good bill, if they lose, it's not their fault.
Thank you, Scott Brown! You, vote 41, were worse than nothing for the Republicans.