The Daily Sandwich

"We have to learn the lesson that intellectual honesty is fundamental for everything we cherish." -Sir Karl Popper

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Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Our Symbolic Senate

Oooooooooh-kay. After the Senate was unable to bring to an "up-or-down vote" measures on restoring the right of habeas corpus to people detained by the government AND to expand the time between tours of duty for troops in Afghanistan (which I would call 'supporting' them), that august body has managed to pass another measure. Read it and weep:

Cornyn Amdt. No. 2934

To express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.

While the Republicans (with the help of Joe Lieberman) were more than willing to deny troops a decent resting period at home before sending them back into the shit, a number of Democrats were willing to urinate submissively when it came to be their turn to show some guts.

Which senators were actually able to reject this blatant piece of smarmy, right-wing agitprop?

Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Clinton (D-NY) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Levin (D-MI) Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

To the other Dems who capitulated-- and abstainers Biden, Cantwell and Obama-- you have my thanks for once again handing the GOP a club with which they will pound you mercilessly. And all the while, they'll be repeating the words "Even Democrats agreed with us..." Thank you as well for helping the GOP de-legitimize progressive activist groups while they keep dishing out Willie Horton stew.