Sick of all the 2008 presidential news yet? Ok, how about some 2008 Senatorial news…According to WP’s Chris Cilizza, the Dems look to be in very good shape for the next election: “Of the 33 seats up for reelection, just 12 are held by Democrats. And of those 12, only two Democratic incumbents received less than 54 percent of the vote in 2002 — Sens. Tim Johnson (S.D.) and Mary Landrieu (La.).“
Tag: Mary Landrieu
The United States of Torture.
“We don’t blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they’ll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won’t remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration. They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.” Abu Ghraib becomes standard operating procedure as Dubya’s terror bill — horrifying as it is — passes the House 253-168 (roll call) and the Senate 65-34 (roll call.) Twelve Senate Dems (well, eleven Senate Dems and Lieberman) voted for the bill: Carper, Johnson, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Menendez, Nelson, Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Stabenow. Chafee was the only Republican to vote against it, Snowe abstained.
Shameful, pitiful, demoralizing, pathetic. What else is there to say? As Rebecca Blood sums it up (via Medley): “We have lost the war on torture. It’s devastating.“
When Filibusters Were Bad.
“‘We have to recognize that as a legislative body we made mistakes,’ Sharp said. ‘The responsibility for it weighs heavily on the Senate.’” If all goes according to plan, the Senate will apologize next week for continually failing to pass an anti-lynching law, as per the bill introduced in February by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and George Allen (R-VA).
A Line in the Sand.
While the GOP may have bent the rules to facilitate passage of the ANWR drilling bill (set for a vote today), it appears they face a Senate shutdown by the Dems if they keep pressing on Dubya’s wacko judicial appointees. And why not? Dubya has revealed he’s not going to relent on Social Security PSAs, despite their unpopularity, and he continues to appoint controversial right-wing neocons like Paul Wolfowitz to top positions (in this case, the World Bank.) If Dubya and the Right don’t want to compromise, then we Dems shouldn’t play ball. It’s 1993 all over again. (That being said, it’s probably wise of Reid to keep legislation “supporting our troops” out of the boycott…FOX News would have a field day with that one.) Update: By a 51-49 vote, the Senate opens ANWR to drilling, with Dems Daniel Akaka, (D-HI), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) putting the GOP over the top.
Update 2: Slate‘s Fred Kaplan has more on the Wolfowitz pick.
Update 3: Conservative George Will warns against GOP tampering with the filibuster rule.
20-20 Hindsight.
Along with Mary Landrieu (D-LA), George Allen (R-VA) introduces a Senate apology for holding up anti-lynching legislation for decades. On hand, given Senator Allen’s role in this and his dodgy taste in “memorabilia”, I can’t help thinking that there’s a whiff of opportunism in the air. But, for the most part, I’d say it seems a valuable exercise for the Senate to acknowledge its prior complicity in racial injustice, as with the move to pardon Jack Johnson and the J.P. Morgan apology noted two days ago.
Homeland (and Corporate) Security.
John McCain joins the Dems in fighting the Homeland Security Bill, mainly because it has swollen 450 pages since election day with ridiculous helpings of GOP pork. Looks like the only entities with security in Dubya’s universe are pharmaceutical companies and the anti-terrorism industry. Update: Despite McCain’s vote, the Dems lose again. (Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Zell Miller voted with the GOP, as did Wellstone’s current replacement, Dean Barkley.)