Every Republican Senator voted on February 15 to not allow TSA employees to unionize

[karynnj]

I am posting this because, though I try to follow Senate votes, I missed this one - and this could be something to use against so called moderates like Snowe and Scott Brown, who are both up in 2012. (I apologize for wasting people's time, if this is common knowledge already.)

Rollcall here:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00017

This vote was mentioned in this Dailykos article - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/10/954294/-Union-vote-for-TSA-screeners-happening-now - which was the first time I heard about it.

In addition, every Republican voted for the Republican budget, which has many indefensible cuts. Some like defunding Planned Parenthood would likely increase costs as it is a low cost provider for many services that women = including those on Medicaid and Medicare are entitled to get.

Now, they might say that it didn't matter - everyone knew that neither bill would pass. However, because many 11 Democrats (or independents) voted against the Democratic one, the Republican one got 44 votes and ours 42. Reid has chosen to interpret this as theirs having more support!!! - ignoring that Sanders voted against it, not because he preferred a bill more like the Republicans, but because even its cuts were wrong. This does mean that the republicans who voted for the bill are responsible for what was in it.

I think at the end of the year, it will be good to compile a "bad vote" list for both Snowe and Brown - that could be used to try to counter conventional wisdom that they are moderate. As people, they might be, but if they mostly vote lockstep with a very reactionary party - they can no longer claim they are a moderate force.

[loudsue]

1. This is no reflection on you, but reading this post just shows how totally FUBAR

the entire situation is.

[karynnj]

2. I agree with that

and of all the things I wrote the most disturbing to me was Reid's incredible statement that gives credibility to teh Republicans' claim that they have the more support on this issue.

Did a single Republican speak of the unusual vote of confidence that the Democrats got in 2008? Where we ended up with 60 Senators and a bigger House majority than they have now? I don't think it happened - none agreed - for that election - that elections have consequences. Immediately, they claimed that the 2009-2010 Congress was "no longer" representative of what "the people" (the Koch brothers?).

Now, there are polls that show that most people would want raising revenue used as part of the solution to the deficit - especially in the form of raising taxes on the wealthiest- as your avatar suggests. Reid appears to be accepting their frame.