Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV), Zell Miller (D-GA), Ben Nelson (D-NE) crossed the aisle to vote for the mostly Republican backed Federal Marriage Amendment. Now I’ve voiced a lot of vitriol towards the Republicans for supporting this Amendment. I’d be remiss if I didn’t do the same for these assholes.
Sen. Byrd you bigoted piece of shit. You are an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. From the 2000 Party Platform, " We support continued efforts, like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to end workplace discrimination against gay men and lesbians. We support the full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of the nation. This would include an equitable alignment of benefits." Well you’ve gone against that platform time and time again; voting Against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, voting for DOMA, voting for the FMA. You are worthless.
Sen. Miller, why are you even a Democrat? You rubber stamp nearly every nomination Bush has submitted. You Co-Sponsored the FMA. You utter this absolute drivel
concerning the torture photos. Change parties and get it over with.
Sen. Ben Nelson, like Miller, you vote consistently with the Republicans on issue after issue from being Anti-Choice to being Anti-Gay. I have to wonder why you are a Democrat.
On the flip side, I doff my hat to Senators Campbell (R-CO), Chafee (R-RI), Collins (R-ME), McCain (R-AZ), Snowe (R-ME) and Sununu (R-NH). These brave Republicans stood up for the values of Equality and Justice that define our nation. Thank you.
Kerry and Edwards didn’t vote because this wasn’t really a vote on the FMA. It was a vote on cloture. Had cloture passed, they had pledged to return to the Senate to vote against the FMA. They had also told Daschle that if the cloture vote looked even close, they would return, but he told them to keep campaigning.
Most of the votes “missed” by Kerry and Edwards have been cloture votes and unanimous consent agreements – procedural votes whose results are basically predetermined. This non-vote vote is no different.
I feel that both Kerry and Edwards are doing a better job representing the interests of my party in Iowa than any number of individuals currently in the House or Senate chambers.
He is popular with the folks of West Virginia, though. Some for that very reason, and some because he manages to funnel oodles and oodles of Federal dollars to WV-based projects.
He’ll be elected again and again until he dies. Or quits.
Can you expand on this? I am having trouble reconciling the two thoughts. Given that Republicans overwhelmingly supported this and that Democrats did not, how is this not a Democrat vs. Republican issue?
Bullshit. If that were the case the vote would have been dramatically different, as Republicans are supposed to be all in support of “States Rights”. In fact that was one of the reasons McCain voted against it.
Binarydrone, I think what **Yeticus Rex ** means when he says the FMA is a “state issue v. federal issue” is that matters relating to marriage (e.g., the minimum age, licensing requirements, etc.) are traditionally the province of state law. Conservative Republicans (and conservative Democrats) are usually against expanding federal power at the expense of the states. Thus, ostensibly, many conservative lawmakers–even if they are opposed to gay marriage–would be against the FMA because it represents a massive federal intrusion into the states’ control over marriage. In their eyes, that’s a bigger sin.
And is the President able to do his job in Wisconsin, where he is to day? Will the Vice-President be able to do his job tomorrow when he is in Iowa talking to a hand picked crowd of GOP stalwarts and old guys who pine for the return of HR Gross (Iowa Congressman from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s who NEVER voted for an appropriation bill)? You comment was, as you know full well gatopescado, a gratuitous cheap shot and groundless smart-assery. It adds nothing to this thread except giving me the opportunity to put poor old Congressman Gross’s head on a pike and march it around for a while.
In the meantime, as has been pointed out by several, today’s vote was not a vote on either version of the proposed anti-buggery amendment but was a vote on ending debate. Also, all three of the condemned Senators have constituencies that are strongly socially conservative and a vote might well cost them dear. I would rather keep two of the three around for a while. Every thing I know about Senator Miller indicates that he is at best a Dixiecrat and at worst a wolf in sheep’s clothing and the toady of the Republican Central Committee. After his stand up and let ‘em have it fight on entering the war in Iraq I’m willing to forgive Senator Byrd an awful lot.
I should point out that oftentimes the reason people don’t switch parties is just momentum: you stick with the ticket you have instead of confusing voters. In that way, some of these guys are Democrats mostly via historical accident more than anything else.
I’d like him a lot more if his win hadn’t depended on so many dirty trick operations.
Of course, I also have to admit that the moron Dem Governor candidate who ran on a pro-tax platform in NH was a real fuckup too. He was so bad that Republicans actually printed up fake “pro-Shaheen” signs with both Shaheen and him on them to drag her down with him.
