The angry mob didn’t change any legislation, they just delayed passing it. If bringing it to the floor in the future becomes politically untenable that says more about the tactics of those attempting to pass it yesterday and explains the lengths at which they went, time stamps and all. I would say the mob was shouting to all the people that care about this but didn’t know it was happening as much as it was directed at the legislators.
The “mob” did not stop the bill, it was Democrats raising procedural issues. And it was Wendy Davis who got it to that critical point, she is g-d hero. The yelling contributed, some, but if the violations of power by the Republicans are far more troublesome than citizens voicing their outrage at the slimy tactics of the GOP.
Which effectively killed it, meaning that the angry mob got its way. I’m with Hershele Ostropoler–I’m very uncomfortable with mob rule.
Perhaps if those Republicans actually followed the rules of the legislature rather than trying bullshit shenanigans to disrupt a properly carried-out filibuster, you wouldn’t have angry mobs needing to intervene.
I am, too.
But I’m even more uncomfortable with Rick Perry calling special sessions to slip backdoor legislation into the mix.
If the state’s government is itself trying to subvert the normal legislative process, I’m less inclined to give the angry mob a hard time about it.
The mob behaved. Mostly.
The mob was careful and quiet with only sporadic laughter and applause all day. The crowd smiled and joked with the DPS troopers keeping order out there, and they were friendly and jovial back.
We believed in the process, see. We were peaceful and quiet and we just wanted to come and show our support and see history being made.
But when Dewhurst started making really shady rulings, people started getting restless. When he called the third strike at 10:30 – which he couldn’t do within the rules, since she needed three strikes on germane-ness and she only had two, and damn it we DID read the Senate rules for that – the gallery erupted.
If Wendy had just leaned on her desk or taken a drink or actually committed some other breach of the rules, we would have been disappointed. But when we saw such blatantly partisan politicking, many people started booing and shouting “SHAME!”. The gallery was mostly emptied at that point.
Mostly, but not entirely. What happened then were more and more gross breaches of rules, decorum and common decency – by the Republican senators, not the gallery and not the Democrats. Leticia Van de Putte’s famous quote came after Robert Duncan, who’d been given the gavel after Dewhurst recused himself, refused to recognize her. He did so illegitimately, systematically ignoring valid points of order and parliamentary inquiries for purely partisan purposes. There were no other reasons. There could be no other excuse.
We’d been silent since we went to the hall. We were waiting for news, checking our Twitter feeds and listening to the live streaming. They called – against their own rules, again – for a role call for a vote. That was when the protesters started rumbling again.
And when Duncan said that he couldn’t hold the vote if he couldn’t hear, the people erupted.
They lost their decorum. Yes. But it was thrown away by the Republican senators long before. They violated their own rules again and again, even breaking the law in order to pass their bill.
So yeah. After the Senate devolved into chaos, so did the people. Sue us.
As a fun side note: one of my activist friends was sitting with a bunch of blue shirts who got very nervous when all this started going down. One pro-life woman begged her to make it all stop. Yes, ma’am. It’s scary, isn’t it? Being in a room full of people who are violently opposed to what you hold dear?
Welcome to Texas.
The Republicans could have gotten this bill passed if the Governor had added abortion restrictions to the special session call earlier or from the get-go, or if the Texas House had gotten on the ball and passed it quicker, or if the Texas House had passed the Senate’s version of the bill without having to go for the 20-week restriction, or for various other procedural niceties that they either forgot about or screwed up. And if they want it really badly then Perry can call another special session, and Senator Davis won’t be able to talk for thirty straight days.
Also no fan of mob rule, but people felt really strongly about this and got their voices heard. In Texas, this is not a common thing.
The ‘mob’, as you call them, was actually pretty quiet during something like 12 hours of filibuster and arcane procedural questions. They cheered or applauded occasionally, but generally calmed down and let things proceed. Basically, they were attending a political sports match, and they knew the rules. They only got involved when the Republicans started breaking their own rules and refusing to hear the Dems who called them on it. Really, the crowd was more ‘enthusiastic referees’ than ‘torches and pitchforks’.
Besides, it only worked because there were only ten minutes left, and the spectators couldn’t be forcibly removed fast enough to restore order and hold a vote. They were, by the way - forcibly removed, that is. Given the amount of time wasted by legislatures already, I’m actually pretty ok with giving The People ten minutes to express themselves.
Actually, I’d be a lot less annoyed with the federal congress if the Republicans had to follow Texas-style rules for their so-called filibusters. Let’s see that pack of old men find someone to stand and talk for 13 hours a day, every day during the season, without food or water or bathroom breaks or leaning or back braces or going off topic.
Oh, c’mon! Didn’t you get even a little bit of visceral thrill from Bane’s revolution in The Dark Knight Rises?! Everybody else did, I can tell ya!
And if the Republicans had managed to suspend the 24 hour rule that said the bill had to wait that long between being passed in the House and the Senate, she’d have had to go for 37 hours. One, interestingly enough, for every abortion clinic this bill would have closed.
And Deuell’s suggestion that they wouldn’t have had to close was disingenuous at best.
Question. How the fuck is it not illegal to attempt to change the timestamp on the vote?
Bravo to our posters who were there fighting the good fight. Sincerely, thank you. I may be all the way out in California, but your fight is everyone’s fight. Injustice against any of us is injustice against of all of us.
I don’t think I ever turned my TV on last night, as I was glued to my computer screen, watching the live Youtube stream, then the stream that one guy was doing with his cell phone (and 5000 + were watching). I was riveted by this whole thing.
As cynical as I am, though, I was utterly astounded that the republicans tried to pull that scam at the very end there. Did they not realize 180,000 people from all over the world were watching them live on Youtube? Or did they just not care? And then to change the time stamps . . . it’s like they don’t understand how the internet works.
If nothing else, this is an example of why transparency is so tremendously necessary in our political system. There should be no closed door sessions, nothing the media isn’t allowed to record, and there should always be a full and passionate gallery.
Amen. Somebody needs to be criminally held accountable for this.
My first thoughts as well. Very pleased and relieved about the outcome, but the larger question is very troubling – if the only way to stop a legislature run amok is with an angry mob shouting down the legislative process…
well, it would be hyperbolic to say that democracy is dead. So I won’t.
I’m going to leave it to the more legally-trained Dopers to confirm or reject, but it really sounds like a violation of Title 8 (Offenses Against Public Administration), Ch. 37 (Perjury and Other Falsification)
80% of Texans were against the bill. The politicians chose to go forward with something that was in no way the belief of the people they are there to represent. On top of that, the politicians started trying to game the system blatantly and offensively. So, the citizens got pissed and took their governance into their own hands. That IS democracy. Democracy is the people standing up and having their voices (literally) heard. Democracy is not a bunch of lifetime politicians ignoring the will of the people.
Are special sessions accepted practice? Has it been done before? If not then I could come around to your view.
The better course of action would have been to bring a law suit or, better yet, vote the bums out. My problem is that your actions have given some credibility to mob disruptions. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s the good fight because next time the mob might prevent something you favor.
If next time, the mob is riled up for the same reason it was this time – blatant disregard for rules of order by the majority party in the legislature – then I am okay with the process being stopped, even if by mob rule. And even if the bill that gets stopped is one that I approve of.
They’re called ‘special’ for a reason.
The governor can call special sessions and sets the agenda items. The legislature only considers those items the governor specifies.
It wasn’t really all that common before. Legislators don’t get paid the same as a normal session (and have to take time off their regular work), so they weren’t generally popular.
Since the Texas legislature only assembles once every two years, it was a way to handle stuff that just couldn’t wait. Or as a threat by the governor to get a move on during the normal legislature session on something considered important (sort of the case here, since it was called as soon as the regular session ended), i.e. threaten a special session if they don’t act fast on X piece of legislation.
And, historically, it’s been known to backfire on occasion. If the legislators felt ornery, they’d just pass a bill the governor would refuse to sign or containing something he wouldn’t like.
But under Rick Perry, Texas state politics has shifted to where the governor’s office has a lot more control and sets more of the tone of the legislative sessions than ever before (historically, the Lt Gov’s office was really the power here). So, it’s become another tool to play at the national political spotlight and a way to fast track controversial priorities since normal legislative rules don’t apply.
A-fuckin’-men.
I had a similar thought. That is, while I am glad the anti-abortion bill failed, the angry mob part troubles me. However, the bullying way the Republicans ended the filibuster was irksome too.