Even though the nomination of Mikey Hayden to run the CIA did not garner the sort of attention it deserved, it was a crucial vote. One that I'm sad to say, the Democratic party caved in on. There must be a file cabinet stuffed full of photos of a lot of Democrats with dead hookers in some Karl Rove warehouse. I can't explain a 78-15 tally otherwise.
John Nichols is as disgusted with the Democratic party as I am:
If there actually was an opposition party in Washington, the nomination of Air Force General Michael Hayden to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency would have been doomed from the start.
...
Unfortunately, there is no opposition party in Washington.
There is, instead, a Democratic Party that, when push comes to shove regularly allows itself to be shoved.
So it come as little surprise that Hayden's nomination has sailed through the Senate, winning approval Friday by a 78-15 vote. Most Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, joined the vast majority of Republicans in rubberstamping George W. Bush's poke-in-the-eye pick to head the CIA.
...
a handful of Democrats did attempt to check and balance a lawless president by refusing to support his equally lawless nominee. Voting against Hayden's nomination were Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Hillary Clinton of New York, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Intriguingly, the dissident Democrats were joined in their opposition to Hayden by Senate Judiciary Committee chair Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who has been increasingly restive regarding the administration's assault on basic freedoms.
...
If there actually was an opposition party in Washington, Feingold's position would be its official stance. Instead, the man who has fought a lonely battle to censure the president for initiating and maintaining an illegal domestic surveillance program, is still dismissed by most of his fellow Democrats as too aggressive, too principled, too committed to the Constitution. So it goes, as the majority of Feingold's Democratic colleagues continue to promote the nominations and the policies of a failed president who polls tell us now has the approval of less than one-third of Americans.
(rest of this sorry tale here)
Russ for President!
The list of spinelessness and shame from Raw Story
None of these “Yeas” better ask us for donations:
Yeas (Dems only)
- Lincoln
- Pryor
- Feinstein
- Lieberman
- Biden
- Carper
- Nelson
- Akaka
- Landrieu
- Mikulski
- Sarbanes
- Levin
- Stabenow
- Baucus
- Nelson
- Lautenberg
- Bingaman
- Reid
- Schumer
- Reed
- Johnson
- Leahy
- Murray
- Kohl
- Byrd
nor any of these who were too busy soliciting corporate donations to vote:
Not Voting - 7
- Boxer (D-CA)
- Conrad (D-ND)
- Dole (R-NC)
- Inouye (D-HI)
- Rockefeller (D-WV)
- Salazar (D-CO)
- Thune (R-SD)
Technorati Tags: CIA, civil_liberties, Democrats, Feingold
