And what you need to do about it. Thoughts from Kaus and an emailer of his:
Kabuki Kabuki?
There’s cloture and there’s cloture on the immigration bill.
So this raises an absolutely critical question: what will happen between a vote to proceed today and the next cloture vote? The outrage and pressure, mainly from the right, will have to triple. If people like Burr, Bond, McConnell, etc. vote to proceed today and then don’t get absolutely swamped with constituent outrage, their reaction will be “that wasn’t so bad, I can do it again.” [E.A.]
That seems right, although with some potential second-vote switchers–like Webb–it may be important to be extra-polite about and not get their back up. Cold, polite, implacable outrage! … If a net five Senators switch between today and the second vote, the bill is (again) dead. That’s a much more plausible scenario in this case than it usually is, given all the maneuvering and posturing and pressure. Burr is a potential switcher (if his amendment is defeated) in addition to Webb. And Brownback, if he wants to do well in Iowa. … The fate of various amendments will give lots of Senators lots of excuses to switch. … The pro-bill forces lost Hatch and Stabenow on the first cloture vote, which may become significant.
Richard Miniter at PJM also has details on Reid’s strategy today to jam the bill through.
