So it looks like Biden, Obama, and Dodd could not be troubled

[DrDan]

to vote.

Screw 'em.

[jenmarie]

1. It's sickening

this 2 year presidential campaign bullshit. Corporate Press and consultants are raking in the big bucks, while our slim majority in the Senate is worthless. These people need to do the fucking job they were elected to do. We should all write them and express our disgust. :grr:

http://www.congress.org

Their votes wouldn't have given us the 60 we needed, but it would have made a more of a statement if we'd gotten closer.

(Hey, are we allowed to use curse words here?)

[DrDan]

3. God damned right we can

when discussing this lame candidates

[Dinger]

4. Sickening Indeed

good post Jen! K & R!

[DrDan]

19. I have written to all 3 expressing

my displeasure at their apathy

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. What!!!!!!!

OMG

[flpoljunkie]

5. If ALL Dems voted for cloture, plus the 7 Republicans--that still adds up to only 57. Do the math.

Lieberman voted NO with the majority of Republicans, and Sanders I-VT, voted with the Democrats.

[ElizabethDC]

7. There weren't enough votes to block the funding bill

but they still showed up to vote for that. :shrug:

[flpoljunkie]

14. Reid could have scheduled the vote for tomorrow, but he would still be short if all Dems were there.

[SaveElmer]

15. Well if we are to follow standard DU procedure...

Then these Senators should be excoriated for not providing leadership...

After all, on the Iraq funding bill people here went ballistic that Obama and Hillary didn't vote no soon enough, arguing that had they done so they could have changed the vote...ignoring that it had passed by 35 votes...

[roguevalley]

21. They are paid to vote. My fucker voted present. If my fucker can

do that, Senator Ted "Intertubes" Stevens, there is no acceptable excuse for anyone. They are SUPPOSED TO VOTE.

[burrowowl]

22. Principle! Principle! Principle!

It is the PRINCIPLE of the VOTE!
Maybe somethings called: HONOR! DUTY!



:grr: :grr: :grr:

[burrowowl]

23. And to continue my rant

Didn't Obama and Hillary wait until it was safe to Vote NO on war funding!
When will we have congress critters that aren't spineless wishy-washy jelly fish and not beholden to BIG CORPORATIONS!

[Ethelk2044]

6. This makes no sense

They did not have the vote. It is simple they did not have enough votes, even if they were there do the math.

[DrDan]

8. well - Biden is a "B"

how did he know how many votes they had when he was to vote.

Besides these 3, there was another D that did not vote. That would be 57. It sure makes a stronger statement than 53.

[n2doc]

11. Sen Johnson is still recuperating from his stroke n/t

[DrDan]

12. right - thanks - I had forgotten

yikes - should have remembered that

[HereSince1628]

9. Were they even in town?

Bringing this thing up for a cloture vote without the votes was an accident? I don't think so.

[cascadiance]

20. This kind of smells like the Alito confirmation...

Where they "didn't have the votes for a fillibuster", and then suddenly they had more than that many votes to vote NO on his confirmation? WTF?

I sense a leadership problem. Reid should be:

a) Making sure that he schedules a vote so that all of the candidates can find time to be present on a vote like this. And then make sure that they come too! Not having them showing up shows a "weaker" organization that Republicans are more apt to stand up to if they feel that the Dems don't have determination to try and win some votes. If the Republicans are hard nosed, they'll keep being able to fight off the cloture votes.

b) If they are within 2-3 votes of getting past cloture (ESPECIALLY when you have so many Republicans not willing to come forward and *support* Gonzales), then it is up to our Senate Majority Leader to be negotiating or pressuring for those extra votes. You know the Republicans would have been playing those games if they were in Reid's shoes!

I sense that there's some other chess moves going on behind the scenes we don't know about. If Dems were trying to play for "checkmate", they'd know that getting rid of a piece like Gonzales is a key to winning the game! If Bush has to nominate a new AG, he's in DEEP DOODOO! I'm sure that there are a lot of veiled threats towards Democrats if they try and follow through pushing out Gonzales which is what is giving us this "lukewarm" effort.

[datadiva]

10. Enough votes or not

These Senators would have been on record and it would have meant a whole hell of a lot to those of us who are not elected officials. They are and I think they forget that we will remember what they vote on and how they vote come election time. Of course that depends also on who counts the votes. I must be getting cynical in my old age.

[tammywammy]

13. Where were they?

They may have very valid reasons for not being there.

[Zandor]

16. Misplaced anger

It was the Republicans that stopped this, plain and simple. The Democrats seceded in forcing them to publicly side with Gonzalez.

These three votes wouldn't pass the resolution, anyway.

I, too, am curious what their commitments were and how the timing of the vote may have impacted their ability to participate.

On edit: this reply was intended to be to the O.P.

[tammywammy]

17. Well, I agree with you

But I'd like to also know where were they. If it turns out Obama was out at Six Flags with his wife and kids, I'm going to be a little disappointed. But if he was meeting with his constituents in IL, well, I don't feel I can be mad at that.

[DrDan]

18. does it seem strange that of the 4 D's that missed the vote

3 are presidential candidates

and 1 is in the hospital recuperating

[Hippo_Tron]

24. Leadership knew they couldn't get 60 votes, leadership said it was okay for them not to show up

It's pretty simple. With the ridiculous amount of time that it takes to run for President these days, you have to miss votes if you are a Senator. Attacking Senators for that is stupid.