Confirmation Hearing: TyriontheImperialist for Vice President (Questioning)

[Lumine]

I must say that after recent events I am a bit wary of voting to secure the administration's hold on the Senate, even if many would consider such an action born out of mere partisanship and nothing more. Now, I have no animosity towards Tyrion and I have appreciated working with him during these months in the Senate, but during the past days I have spoken to many Atlasians who feel very disappointed with the current administration, several of them people who voted for the Labor ticket and that have grown to regret such a vote. These Atlasians are, after all, my constituency as an At-Large Senator, so I think I should speak up for the concerns they (and myself as well) have after the past weeks, specially in light of public opposition to many issues regarding the administration.

Yes, I know, Griffin already talked about his belief on the administration's entitlement to continue the push for energy nationalization and similar policies, he stated that politicizing this would be a failure and he boasted as usual about Labor's skill at bending public opinion and so forth, but I seriously doubt that public opinion is truly behind the current road. Not only the polls are clear regarding nationalization, it should be obvious by now that many believe that the initial promises of moderation and pragmatism have been somewhat challenged by recent failures or strange situations and, of course, an increased role in relevance by the more radical wing of Labor (which has brought criticism from people from all parties, including moderate Laborites). This confirmation, whether we like it or not, is very political. We are pretty much voting for the control of the Senate if we consider this chamber is divided on two sides for most issues and hence breaking ties will be crucial, as others pointed out before.

I'm not sure about how the others feel, so any thoughts from my fellow party members and Senator Spiral?

[Lumine]

Nay, for the reasons I gave before.

[Lumine]

Wow, of all people, I would think Tyrion would have been among the most acceptable....

As I explained before I am not acting out of animosity towards Tyrion, my personal vote over this is related to the concerns of those whom I have spoken with and my own, because I am concerned and I am worried about what will happen. You will have to forgive me if I look unreasonable to some people (as many have already pointed out in quite an open way), but I made a choice to vote based on what I believe and I plan to stand up for it.

Besides, people like Senator TNF will chastise me regardless of what I do (and he in particular will either treat me like a wimp or like a fascist, so I am certainly uninterested in his outrage), so I would rather take a principled stand here.

[Lumine]

Wow, of all people, I would think Tyrion would have been among the most acceptable....

As I explained before I am not acting out of animosity towards Tyrion, my personal vote over this is related to the concerns of those whom I have spoken with and my own, because I am concerned and I am worried about what will happen. You will have to forgive me if I look unreasonable to some people (as many have already pointed out in quite an open way), but I made a choice to vote based on what I believe and I plan to stand up for it.

Besides, people like Senator TNF will chastise me regardless of what I do (and he in particular will either treat me like a wimp or like a fascist, so I am certainly uninterested in his outrage), so I would rather take a principled stand here.

Well, the situation between you and TNF is your own business. It has nothing to do with me nor does it have to do with Tyrion.

I still am having a hard time understanding the point you want to make. So, explain it to me again. In what way is Tyrion an unacceptable VP other than he's a member of the Labor Party. Hell, I'd vote for him to be VP before I'd vote for myself to be VP. Why are you and several others seemingly interested in prolonging the deadlock when everyone knows Tyrion would do a fine and fair job.

My point is basically that I have no confidence on the administration , and that's a view that is shared among a good number of people (many of whom have actually encouraged me to stand firm on this issue). You will forgive my bluntness, but I don't trust the White House to remain on the road that was promised during the campaign when the shift to the left and to many unworkable policies is already far too evident. There are many who have already spoken against this from many political sectors, and considering the emphasis Griffin openly made on party loyalty and the implied threats that Labor will vote as a block and will punish disloyalty you will understand the existing concerns about what will happen after the administration is granted control over the Senate.

[Lumine]

In all fairness, this action is also a matter of personal opinion because we don't whether this is constitutional or not. I'm tempted to believe it is not constitutional because of the reasons Nix and Duke pointed out and because it also sets a precedent that might be complicated in the future, but on the other hand we already had enough gridlock thanks to the suit against Windjammer regarding the PPT.  The witch hunt aside, I believe us Senators who voted Nay made their concerns quite clear and forced a national debate on it, something I believe to be positive. I'm not sure what the rest will do, but I don't have any plans of going to the Supreme Court.

Either way, once we start discussing the Nix rules we need to clear this issue as best as we can, and we need to regulate the powers of the VP and the PPT once and for all.

[Lumine]

Four hours left until voting time, I believe.

[Lumine]

Senators, a vote is now open on the nomination of TyriontheImperialist for Vice President. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[Lumine]

Aye.

[Lumine]

Lumine, end this already. You could have yesterday.

I prefer to wait until all Senators have voted (if possible), but yes, this has ended.

Aye (9) Senator Yankee, President Pro Tempore Lumine, Senator Cassius, Senator Cranberry, Senator TNF, Senator Bore, Senator Deus, Senator Polnut and Senator Cynic.
Nay (0)
Abstained (0)

Not Voting (1) Senator JCL.

TyrionTheImperialist is confirmed as Vice-President of Atlasia. Congratulations!

[Lumine]

Could I recommend moving the grammar debate to another thread? It's kind of pointless to keep debating here...