The Great Hold Up UPDATED
There are several elements to a hold up.
You have to have a motive. It’s usually money, but that’s only the means, not the end.
“Sen. Shelby has placed holds on several pending nominees due to unaddressed national security concerns,” Shelby spokesperson Jonathan Graffeo said in a statement. “Among his concerns” are the progress on multi-billion dollar defense contract that would see planes built in Mobile, AL and Obama’s decision to scrap a $45 million FBI improvised explosive device lab Shelby secured an earmark for in 2008.
Link
You also need a bagman. He or she is the person that is designated to collect the money/means.
Sen. Shelby with his one time BFF Saddam Hussein
Sometimes the bagman slips his demands to the victim.
When the actual hold up goes down, you usually need someone to play the role of the clown in the room. The clown usually makes a lot of noise, and distracts everyone else in the room from the actual crime. It’s usually someone that works with him, or his cohorts. Though some times the clown is an unwitting stooge.
What usually screws up the great hold up is when someone talks.
Harry reminds us what this hold up means to “We The People”:
Of curse he’s not the only one pulling a great hold up, he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, or his hands over our eyes. Over 70 top positions in the Obama administration are held up along with countless lower ranking positions that need to be confirmed. Most, if not all got out of their respective committees, but that no longer seems to matter. Perhaps Obama should have put a horse judge in for FIMA director ala Mike “Doing a great job Brownie” Brown.
Funny quote of the week:
EXCERPT FROM LAST NIGHTâS FORD-STEELE CHAT: âAt one point, Steele attacked President Obama for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for families who make more than $250,000. âTrust me, after taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money,â Steele said.â
Peace,
J
UPDATE:
Geeter Dan in a comment below pointed out that I didn’t really close the loop on these things, so here is my best effort to do it:
Here was Dan’s great question:
How is it that a single Repub. Senator is able to hold up anything
when the Dems hold such a large majority in the Senate? Also, I don’t
see the Teabaggers getting all that much press. How are they
distracting us from anything? Just wondering.
My response:
From the Congressional Daily:
Because of the time required to vote
on multiple nominations, the Senate processes most nominations by
unanimous consent. Any one senator can block any of those nominations
by objecting to a unanimous consent request to take it up. The
nominations will remain stalled unless Reid files cloture.
Can you imagine 70 (the current back log of major appointments) cloture votes like the ones we saw for Health Care?
You
are right about the tea party’s lack of coverage, well, unless you
watch Fox, it’s still getting wide coverage. My point, though not made
well, was that this is indicative of more than just Shelby. It’s about
what has happened all of last year. The Rs have blocked everything
while the tea parties have kept us all amused, and now, as the Rs
celebrate what they got for their districts, they also celebrate the
tea parties which directly oppose what the Rs are doing (getting pork).
Thanks again Dan!