Going Nuclear on the Option
To follow up on Asa's post about "memes" and the term's missuse...
I'm fairly certain that the term "Nuclear Option" originally showed up in the late-winter to denote the potential Democratic *response* to the GOP if the latter changed filibuster rules. The Democratic response would in effect, "blow up" the Senate, as they would gain revenge by shutting down all Senate business through arcane procedural rules.
Somewhere along the line, this definition changed and the Nuke Option meant the change to filibuster rules. I think this situation is similar to how most people use the term impeach to mean "remove from office" when it really means, to charge a public official with improper conduct.
I'm fairly certain that the term "Nuclear Option" originally showed up in the late-winter to denote the potential Democratic *response* to the GOP if the latter changed filibuster rules. The Democratic response would in effect, "blow up" the Senate, as they would gain revenge by shutting down all Senate business through arcane procedural rules.
Somewhere along the line, this definition changed and the Nuke Option meant the change to filibuster rules. I think this situation is similar to how most people use the term impeach to mean "remove from office" when it really means, to charge a public official with improper conduct.
1 Comments:
Nope. I don't feel like sourcing it right now, but I believe "nuclear option" was first used by Republicans to refer to eliminating the filibuster. As in "we're gonna nuke the Democrats with our swift and unprecedented bombing of Senate tradition."
Oh, nevermind, here's Media Matters on the subject: On the December 29, 2004, edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough said: "With us now to talk about the president's brinkmanship strategy on judges and whether it's going to lead to what the Republicans are calling the nuclear option..."
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