THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

A MAN WITH A MEMORY LOOKS AT THE JEFFORDS DEFECTION | 2001-05-25

On March 31, 2001, in REAL HISTORY IS STILL NEWS TO SENATE WIMPS, I pointed out that an evenly split Senate was not a new thing.

I have been pointing out for months now that the same situation existed in 1953, with a 48-48 Democrat-Republican split in the Senate. In 1953, as in 2001, the Republican Vice President gave the Republicans the Senate majority with his right to break a tie vote in that body.

In 1953, the Republicans took over the full powers of the majority party. By forgetting this precedent, Republican Senate wimps were able to "share power" with the Democrats in 2001.

Liberal media did not mention it because it gave Republican Senate wimps an excuse to give the Democrats extra power. But no conservative has mentioned it either!

Now that moderate Senator Jeffords of Vermont is going to give the Democrats a majority by voting with them, this piece of history begins to shout for recognition, BECAUSE EXACTLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO THE 1953 REPUBLICAN MAJORITY!

In 1955, as in 1953, 48 Democrats and 48 Republicans had been elected to the Senate. But liberal Republican Wayne Morse gave the Democrats the Senate majority in 1955 by voting with them, just as Jeffords is doing today.

Republicans don't like discussing this because it makes an obvious point. Republicans are always saying that they have to cater to liberals in order to form a majority coalition. But in the real world, after all the weakening of principles has been done to get a few liberal Republicans, they leave you when it counts.

I covered the same ground, dealing with a similar subject, on October 14, 2000, in ONCE AGAIN - REPUBLICANS NEVER WIN WITH MINORITY VOTES.