Sen. Rand Paul introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act that would have struck the Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq from the books. It got thirty votes. The Roll Call might surprise you. I know I’d be inclined to support such an amendment. But there may be some reasons why it would make things needlessly difficult. I honestly didn’t listen to a second of the debate, so I don’t know why senators like Sheldon Whitehouse, Jack Reed, and Barbara Mikulski opposed it. I take it that the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community didn’t want the AUMF repealed, but I don’t know how good of an argument they had.
A more important amendment was introduced by Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado. It received thirty-eight votes. You can read about the debate here. Anyone who voted against Udall’s amendment is a gutless coward who doesn’t deserve your support. Here are the cowardly bedwetting Democrats :
Bob Casey (D-PA), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Dan Inouye (D-HI), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
They’re all more afraid of Gitmo detainees than they are concerned about the integrity of our system of justice.
What the hell is wrong with the two Senators from Rhode Island?
Ya beat me to it, Calvin.
What is up with Reed and Whitehouse? They are pretty reliable most of the time. I’m not familiar enough with Kohl, Levin, or Stabenow’s voting records to a venture a guess why they made the bad call here, although they don’t usually seem to bear the brunt of progressive ire. The rest are sadly predictable.
One also shouldn’t leave out a kudos for Mark Kirk. I knew a guy who quit a pretty good gig to take a senior staff position on Kirk’s Senate campaign. He told me Kirk would vote as a real moderate, and I didn’t believe him. I still don’t really, given the institutional pressures on wannabe “moderate” Republicans, but maybe I’ll be surprised. This vote, along with his DADT yea, is a good sign.
Yes, the Rhode Island problem is the most depressing result of this vote.
I am going to venture a guess on this.
Jack Reed is a very, very high-ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. He should become chairman or ranking member of the committee whenever Levin retires.
Sheldon Whitehouse and Barbara Mikulski are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
My guess is that they didn’t want to anger the agencies they oversee.
Carl Levin took the lead in bucking the administration on this amendment. His motivation is probably the same.
Interesting. Electoral fear certainly can’t be a motivator, because all of those seats are about as safe as they come.
Stabenow (who I take it is solidly liberal) is the outlier to your analysis. Her assignments are mostly Ag and energy-related. But supposedly she faces a tough race against Hoekstra next year, so maybe she’s scared of getting called a terrorist-lover? Still, it’s no excuse.
Wait a minute! I only see one Sen. Nelson on that list.
Does it mean my Sen Nelson voted properly??
WTF?
::
the gutless ones are consistently gutless
casey also voted in favor of the Protect IP Act, aka the Internet Censorship Act.
I hope someone primaries his ass, he sucks so bad. I keep getting emails begging for money, and I have yet to respond. perhaps today I will.
Since Bush left office, we’ve so far avoided digging the hole deeper with our detainee problem. The Guantanamo situation sucks, but it’s been limited to those detainees who’ve been held there since the Bush administration. Nobody new is going in, and Guantanamo rules aren’t being followed for new detainees. The rest of the government – the feds, the military, the police – have gone back to handling criminal and wartime prisoners the way they were handled pre-Bush.
This Senate language threatens to break down the wall. This is a BFD.