The final vote is in, and the bill has passed with a fairly large majority. Here are the Democrats who voted to shred the constitution:
Tom Carper (DE)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Bob Menendez (NJ)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Pryor (AR)
Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Ken Salazar (CO)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Oh... And don't forget one other former Democrat.
Joe Lieberman (CT)
But I'll say it again... Despite this vote I see reason for hope. Not a single one of the people frequently mentioned as a contender for the presidency in 2008 are among this group. Not one.
UPDATE: Worth noting... One Republican has broken ranks to vote nay. Remind me again why Sen. Chafee is still a Republican?
UPDATE II:
Glenn Greenwald:
Jay Rockefeller (who voted for this bill) is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. When he was defending the amendment he introduced to compel the CIA to disclose to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees information about their interrogation activities, he complained that the White House has concealed all information about the interrogation program and that the Intelligence Committee members (including him) therefore know nothing about it. His amendment to compel reports to Congress was defeated with all Republicans (except Chafee) voting against it. He proceeded to vote for the underlying bill anyway, thereby legalizing a program he admits he knows nothing about (and will continue to know nothing about).During the debate on his amendment, Arlen Specter said that the bill sends us back 900 years because it denies habeas corpus rights and allows the President to detain people indefinitely. He also said the bill violates core Constitutional protections. Then he voted for it[...]
But it is still difficult to understand the Democrats' strategy here. They failed to try to mount a filibuster because they feared being attacked as coddlers of the terrorists. But now they voted against the bill in large numbers, thereby ensuring those exact accusations will be made anyway -- and made loudly (the White House already started today). Yet they absented themselves the whole time from the debate (until they magically appeared today), spent the last several weeks only tepidly (at most) opposing the President's position, and thus lost the opportunity to defend and advocate the position they took today in any meaningful way. As a result, the Democrats took a position today (opposition to this bill) which they have not really defended until today[...]
Nonetheless, it is fair to say, given how lopsided this vote was (both in the House and the Senate), that the Republicans are the party of torture, indefinite and unreviewable detention powers, and limitless presidential power, even over U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. By contrast, Democrats have opposed these tyrannical, un-American and truly dangerous measures. Even if Democrats didn't oppose them as vociferously as they could have and should have, this is still a meaningful and, at this point, critically important contrast.
Republicans are the party of unchecked government authority, of limitless presidential power, and of the virtually unrestrained use of torture. This may help them in the short run, but there is no measure by which this will benefit them in the long run.
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