"We don't need the Senate. We need strong Conservatives and at least 40 of them. That's it."

The Broken Confirmation Process

Ezra Klein argues that Elizabeth Warren's presidential appointment to a special advisory position, tasked with heading the effort to start the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is part of a "terrifying precedent" in government.

"The confirmation process is so desperately broken that top nominees who are already working in government prefer vague advisory positions. It's a pretty safe bet that potential nominees with good jobs in the private sector are declining consideration entirely. The number of people who want to give up their day jobs and spend a year in silent limbo when there's no promise of a position on the other side is not that large, and as word gets out that that's effectively what Senate confirmation means, the top talent that government will be able to attract for these positions will dwindle."

I love how "conservatives" claim they will die for the constitution (or at least they have no problem sending poor people off to sacrifice in their stead) but they have absolutely no problems destroying the still-ingenious system the founding fathers set up to protect the republic from, well, them.