In defense of the fillibuster

If I were half as smart as Mark Schmitt, I'd have a job by now. Instead, I get to sit around and write about how I'm less than half as smart as Mark Schmitt is...

Okay, so maybe I do have a job. And maybe I use my lunch time to write blog entries. But I'm still not more than half as smart as Mark Schmitt. I can say that with an easy conscience because I just read this post by him in defense of the filibuster.

After reading it, I've got to wonder why Southern conservatives have dominated the political landscape of this country for so long. Sure, in the last 20 years it's been because they make lots of babies and hide their racist/sexist/theocratic selves under a thin, greasy sheen of respectability. But 40 years ago? Forty years ago, it seems to my uneducated self, the South didn't have the population it does now. How'd they dominate back then?

Anyway, that's not important. Just read his post and contemplate what he has to say about strategic use of the filibuster by Democrats.