I don't know whether cry or puke. Take a look at the list of our fine elected representatives who voted YES on cloture today, supporting the systemic breach of our Fourth Amendment rights by telecoms:Grouped By Vote Position (from the Senate's website)
YEAs --- 80 [also known as the chickensh*t fearmongers]
Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
NAYs --- 15 [also known as "heroes"]
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)
Not Voting - 5 [only Byrd and Kennedy are excused due to illness; no excuse for the other, particularly Obama.]
Byrd (D-WV)
Clinton (D-NY)
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL)
I'm particularly upset and disappointed with the votes of the Senators from Michigan, and I'm further disgusted with their inability to tell constituents straight up what their positions were before this vote. I got the run around from both of their offices, with Stabenow's office "refusing to second-guess the Senator" and Levin's office coming damned close to misrepresenting Senator Levin's plan of action. Stabenow has already bought herself a likely primary due to her poor decision on the MCA vote; she's digging deeper when she should stop. And Levin? I don't know how to explain this at all; for a smart guy, this was a dumb move.
(It does beg the question whether Levin horsetraded his vote for at least one judicial appointment...)
But this was only a cloture vote, you might argue. Wrong. This is no different than the cloture vote in advance of Alito's approval before the Senate, or the cloture vote on the MCA. This is the real deal, in that they voted to limit debate to 30 hours and no more, so that the American public will hear little but posturing in that amount of time and no real arguments about the bill in order to stop it. With unlimited debate that filibustering would bring, there would be a chance to educate the public about this bill and encourage them to contact their Senators to demand a NAY vote.
But now there will be 15 hours or less of real discussion, depending on which Democratic Senators are able to speak, and 15 hours of whining, puling and excuses. There will be those on both sides of the aisle who'll complain that the bill is real progress, a bi-partisan compromise.
Hell no. The only compromise here is one of integrity. Far too many of the whiners will be those who've received a big financial boost from the well-lawyered and lobbyist-endowed telecoms guilty of violating our rights, being little more than corporate whores.
Democracy well and truly lost today, which brings me back to my original problem: do I cry or do I puke?
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