The Nine Unworthies

The post title is a reference to this, by the way…

We know that the Senate was not able to muster 60 votes in order to debate the Iraq war on Saturday (I’ll be in catch-up mode for a little while here, by the way), coming four short with 56 for and 34 against. And I think the following Repugs deserve credit for now since they sided with the Democratic majority on this vote…

John Warner (VA)
Arlen Specter (PA)
Chuck Hagel (NE)
Gordon Smith (OR)
Norm Coleman (MN)
Olympia Snowe (ME)
Susan Collins (ME)

And by the way, the fact that Coleman has come around on the war is a big reason to me why Al Franken may have a tougher time running against Coleman than he thinks, though there is plenty in Coleman’s part service in the Senate for which he needs to make an accounting, if he can.

Also, this quote stood out for me in the Times story…

“The American people can see what is happening here,” said Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska. “They know that some want to prevent a vote at all costs.”

I never thought I’d give Ben Nelson credit for anything, but good for him for doing the right thing for a change.

And of course, we have McConnell and Huckleberry Graham on the other side trying to goad the Democrats into a vote against the surge that cuts off funding to our troops currently deployed so they can make political hay out of it.

Not that I take any of these so-called journalistic geniuses from the Beltway seriously anyway, but I honestly wish someone would remember this moment from Graham the next time he is anointed as some kind of a “moderate” from the Matthews/Russert faction.

So who exactly are the nine senators who thought it was more important to avoid this Senate vote on the war than stand up and make an accounting of themselves for it one way or the other? They would be as follows (from a Washington Post story)…

The Republican senators aside from (John) McCain, (Jon) Kyl and (Bob) Corker who were absent yesterday were Robert F. Bennett (Utah), Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), John Ensign (Nev.), Orrin G. Hatch (Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).

Now it’s true that Kyl and Corker flew to Iraq, but they were scheduled to do so with Bob Casey and Max Baucus; Casey and Baucus opted instead to stay behind for the vote, while Corker and Kyl left. And as we know, McCain was too busy trying to suck up to the wingnuts to do his Senatorial duty.

One more thing: as the Post story also notes, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) voted with Republicans. I know that isn’t surprising, but I’m just noting it “for the official record.”