No Alarms and No Surprises
By In interests of the scrupulously even-handed political analysis for which this blog is justly famed, I pointed out that Joe Lieberman (DINO-Conn) had actually voted for worthy amendments to the ghastly bankruptcy bill. Not much, but it’s something. Of course, what really matters is doing everything that can be done to stop the thing from passing. And when the rubber hit the road, needless to say the Joementum! was straight into the hands of the Republican Party, as he voted to end cloture. How exactly will the Vichyite lickspittles who apologize for Lieberman rationalize this? Yes, the Democratic Party will remain in the wilderness if they don’t support punitive bankruptcy legislation that disproportionately attacks the poorest and most vulnerable! Biden’s vote was bad, but at least he comes from a state whose governing philosophy is structured around attracting corporate parasites. What’s Lieberman’s excuse?
The vote isn’t up on Thomas yet; I’ll link when I can find it. I’ll be interested to see if anyone else tanked on this vote. There’s just no justification for a single Dem allowing this bill to come to a vote; this bill is rotten on the merits, contrary to both progressive and market principles, and doesn’t carry political benefits either. If the cloture vote succeeds, it’s a travesty.
…it passed. Appalling. So there had to be someone else in addition to Lieberman and the Deleware 2…
…Here we go. 69 yes votes! A list of Democrats for Usury and Redistributing Economic Risk Downward:
Biden (D-DE)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Salazar (D-CO)
Stabenow (D-MI)
One thing to note here is that there’s further evidence here that Michael Lind’s claim that the Democrats have sold out on economic policy because of decadent coastal elitists is foolish. Despite (of course) making up a minority of the Dem caucus, a majority of these voters come from red states. Of the Dem Senators from CA, WA, NY, NJ, and New England a grand total of one voted for the cloture bill, and of course that Senator got his seat with the backing of William F. Buckley and is beloved by Lindesque centrists (and loathed by the “elitist” urban Democratic base.) Democrats who come from the South and Midwest are far more economically reactionary that those who repesent urban states.
The second thing to remember is that if any of these people votes against the bankruptcy bill in the end, it means absolutely nothing. This was the last chance to stop the bill, and everyone knows it.