Friday Roundup: A Tiny, Petulant Voice

Yesterday I mentioned that one Politico story on the Senate immigration compromise carried a line or two about Senator John Cornyn's distaste for details. I couldn't find much else about that at the time, and not too long afterward I saw Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on MSNBC talking about the deal in positive terms. This morning's Brownsville Herald has the story of what Cornyn was doing while his GOP pals were high-fiving Ted Kennedy: he was on a conference call with reporters, laying down some bluster and making some strong statements about what everyone else seems to agree is the long and short of it.

Using phrases like "unenforceable" and "rotten to the core", Cornyn seemed to imply that his personal displeasure spelled out trouble for the bill and that a serious reworking was in order. I'm not sure where he gets that. He is not regularly listed among the power centers in the US Senate, and I doubt he has the personal juice to alter the course of this or any legislation. If he can rally some support it will become easier for him, but I just don't know where he would get it. This is an opportunity for everyone to get together for a photo-op on a compromise, where everyone can say "Well, it isn't what I really want, but we did something, right?" This break with the President is also going to be hard for him. Next week will probably see Cornyn's name in the news quite often, and probably to his disadvantage.

Apparently, everyone who was not busy hammering out an immigration compromise which would ultimately prove fruitless due to the Dark Lord Cornyn's displeasure was otherwise occupied with Alberto Gonzales. Senate Democrats announced plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Gonzales, and the news about this broke shortly before some other Republican Senators called for him to resign. At issue in the new and improved ire Gonzales has earned from the Senate is the storied bedside strong-arming of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft by Gonzales and Andy Card over warrantless wiretapping. I have often found myself saying, "Well, now it can't get any worse for the Bush administration. This is as bad as it can possibly get." And then they manage to find a way to surprise me.

In news about another Senate: Man, has the Texas Senate turned into an episode of The Young and The Restless or what? When I heard about the verbal slap fight Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and Senator Whitmire got into earlier this week, I thought it was a fun story, but likely just the price of doing business. Even if you are pals, sometimes in politics you have to roll up on each other, and it must happen when you're in opposing parties no matter how much you go hunting with each other. The situation, however, was more serious than I intuited. Now there are editorials pondering the deep nature of friendship and whether there can possibly be a reconciliation between Dewhurst and Whitmire. Members of the Senate are having come-to-Jesus meetings with Dewhurst and latently threatening to take him down a procedural peg or two.

There are even dramatic stories about the Senate closing ranks, as if the body were attacked from the outside rather than from within by severe partisanship and a desire to push a national, GOP-fear-mongered agenda on Voter ID. I think it is ridiculous, and you should, too.

Taking these histrionics into account, it is unfortunate to learn that Senator Mario Gallegos pushed it to the limit and, after some required medical tests and procedures in Houston, may not return for the duration. Essentially, that means that if Dewhurst wants to push Voter ID to debate, he can. Senate Democrats can block debate on a bill with eleven votes, and there are only eleven Democratic Senators. If they only have ten votes, it goes to debate, and if it goes to debate, it passes.

Those of you hoping that Dewhurst, in light of his recent actions, will refrain from taking advantage of one Senator's health condition to advance a national Republican agenda may also wish to purchase this unicorn I have for the low price of One Million Wishes.