The Democratic Caucus in the Senate has 60 members, including two elected as independents. That's enough to break any filibuster and ram through any bill they can come to an agreement upon.

We already know where the Republicans stand, and they will do anything possible to thwart both the Democrat in the White House and their own Democratic colleagues on the Hill. Playing nice with them all summer while they sent their thugs to break up Democrats' town hall meetings was a first class mistake. Meanwhile, the Attorney-General sat on his hands instead of convening a Federal grand jury to bring some indictments under the Patriot Act or under the so-called "Rap Brown Law" that makes inciting a riot a Federal crime.

So the Democrats, and the Democrats alone, are to blame for this fiasco. The American public gave them the mandate a year ago and they blew it with their own weak-kneed leadership. My song tells it like it is.

--- Steve