28 Jul '11 23:24>
Originally posted by no1marauderI think that sad reality is more a reflection of the fact that the symbolic vote has come to be played out on the final vote while the influential vote has come to be played out on the cloture vote.
The Democrats have the weakest party discipline in the history of the planet. A cloture vote is a procedural one and they can't even keep their party members in line on procedural votes? If Lieberman, Lincoln, Landrieux and Nelson insisted on voting against the final bill that was their call, but threatening to join the Republicans on a procedural vote t ...[text shortened]... high treason. That they got away with it without any consequences from the party is appalling.
As for Lieberman's "punishment," I'll quote again from my book, because I had the same thoughts until I read this excerpt:
By the time Lieberman entered the Lyndon B. Johnson Room, 50 paces off the Senate floor, most of the seats were filled. "Joe's here, now we can begin," one Senator teased.
Reid faced a rebellion. Many of his rank-and-file members loathed the idea of ceding to Lieberman.
"I understand you're angry," Reid said. "I'm angry. But I just want to talk to you a little about what he's meant to the caucas this year."
Reid reminded them of the big votes of 2009--and the mathematical realities of Senate life.
Economic recovery package? Sixty votes, "and Joe was one of them," Reid said.
Children's health insurance? Sixty again.
Down the list he went.
"I know you're upset with him, but look what he's helped us do," the majority leader concluded. "We need him to make 60 votes on this."
Lieberman inched forward in his seat to speak, but others moved faster. Don't let one senator hold us hostage, someone growled. Maybe we need to change the rules on committee chairmanships, another suggested in a not-so-subtly veiled threat.
Finally, Paul Kirk, the man temporarily filling the seat of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), spoke. He said that Kennedy, the great champion of health-care reform, "knew when to fight and he knew when to close the deal," according to the notes of the session. "While Teddy might have wanted a public option, at this moment he would say: This is a great achievement, let's get it done."