vegas. he has been written off in a political death numerous times including in 1984 and again in 2010 when the tea party wave put his senate seat in peril. now she now, in his own words, he is going out on top. jim, i think when people that watch harry reid from home maybe get a little bit of it s a little hard to figure out how this guy who doesn t have the kind of political gifts that you would get just watching him on television, how he has been as successful as he has been in politics. sure i don t blame them for asking that question. the bottom line is that he is tenacious as hell. he knows how to count votes better than just about anyone else. the real secret that each and every member of the caucus believes that the only thing he is there to do is try to protect
live much longer? i hate to see the senate turn in just another version of the house. i think there are responsibilities that go along with being a senator and i would hate to see on legislation curtailed. but the fact of the matter is things have to change. the current status quo is absolutely unacceptable. jim manly, always a pleasure. thank you. almost immediately harry reid said chuck schumer would be a replacement. not everyone is happy about it. schumer is known for his extremely close relationship to washington which is why some liberal groups are encouraging elizabeth warren to run. this comes at a time when
director at public affairs. you have been through the confirmation battles, jim. sure have. let s start on this. we are in new territory here with this new position by the republicans that filling existing vacancies is absolutely forbidden and will not be accepted, right? absolutely. funny how this works, back in the bush administration, it was all fan and dandy to fill all 11 of those seats, but now that we have a democratic president, oh, no, not for them. they re pulling up this phony charge, nothing short of a lie accusing the president of packing the court. which, again, as you have pointed out, the president s trying to do nothing more than fill the current slots. now the question becomes, what do we do with this? and i feel like this conversation is loosy with the football, vis-a-vis filibuster and nominations. democrats get angry, republicans filibuster nominees, democrats get angry, really angry, they say we re going to do something
packing. this court is not one that needs more judges. as he s trying to pack the court in order to affect the outcomes. packing the court because it has issued rulings against the administration is a cynical approach to the judicial branch. i certainly hope that neither the white house nor my democratic colleagues will, instead, decide to play politics and seek to pack the d.c. circuit with unneeded judges. i don t know what else you d call it other than court packing. actual court packing refers to fdr s attempt to expand the size of a court with extra nominees, not filling vacancies that already exist. if republicans are allowed to get away with this, they are allowed to get away with anything. it cannot stand. and there s a way democrats can end it. joining me now to discuss it is jim manly, he worked in the senate for 21 years, now senior
the same logic of republicans would be like, well, it s court packing if you fill that seat. double speak, people say court packing. court packing was when roosevelt wanted to add six judges to the nine he had to get the results in every case. the idea that filling vacancies is court packing is i just almost can t believe people are saying it and the fact that people would believe it is extraordinary. and to jim s point that what happens when the democrats are in the minority? then don t we want the filibuster? the problem with that over the long-term is democrats want the government to work. democrats want the government to be accountable. and if that means when there s a republican government they can pass their program and be judged on it, so be it. and if because it also means, for example, with no filibuster, right now, we d have we d have cap and trade. we would ve had a much stronger health bill. a much bigger stimulus. that was the program. and people should be allowe