Final vote – 246 to 182.
Reps. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) and Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) were the only Dems to break ranks, while 17 Republicans voted with the majority.
What about the rumors about several dozen Republicans joining Dems on this? Either there was some serious last-minute arm twisting, or the GOP was doing a very effective job of expectation management.
i’m disappointed only 17 repubs could screw up their courage enough to vote in favor, but i’m not surprised. those who voted against are just adding a few more nails to their re-election coffins.
this could also make harry reid’s job a bit more difficult tomorrow with so few crossing over.
Doesn’t matter. According to The Incredible Undead Dick Cheney, nothing Congress says or does will stop the surge from going ahead as planned. I recommend Congress send somebody round to hammer a stake through his heart.
By the way, I was an hour late in posting this because I had to get a haircut. Sorry.
Typically, the right wingers think we’re going to be speaking Arabic now.
One ‘media-frame’ observation here- This morning on NPR I heard something like- ‘as congress debates the escalation, the 21,000 troops continue to “make their way” to Iraq.’
The image 21,000 soldiers ‘making their way’ somewhere is totally misleading. It’s as if some action by the congress or a sudden change of heart by the president, might just save all 21,000 from entering Iraq at the last minute.
It would be much more descriptive and accurate to say the 21,000 soldiers “continue to arrive in Iraq” rather than to say they continue to “make their way” there.
American soldiers travel to and from Iraq by airplane. It takes less then 24 hours to travel between any two places on earth by plane.
Looks like Don Young and his rope will be busy tonight.
Btw, Assclowns of the Week #59 is up. I’m taking the w/e off. Seize you all later.
If Bush is going to ignore Congress and go ahead with the escalation anyway, I suppose we might as well go for the best political outcome. As some commenter said recently, if Bush is going to crash the train, it’s better to have as many Republicans as possible on it when he does.
There is a misprint in the rollcall of Senators. I was looking to see if Gordon Smith, Senator from Oregon, voted yea or nay. Since there is no Senator Smith from Washington state, labeled Smith (WA) in the “yea” list of senators, I assume that it should have been listed as Smith (OR).
Two Dem nay votes, both from the Deep South. It figures.
Typically, the right wingers think we’re going to be speaking Arabic now. – Ugh, @4
Which really, really worries them, since half of them have yet to master *English*…
If tomorrow’s Senate vote is similiar to today’s House one, we’re sunk, even with McCain taking off for presidential stumpin’. Both Nelsons are likely to desert and, of course, our “Independent Dem” would never, ever, vote to embolden the terrorists… On the other side, there’ll be far fewer (if any) who’ll cross the line, judging by their previous behaviour (all hot air and no substance)
Uh, JML, this was a vote in the House, so Sen. Smith wasn’t involved. Smith (WA) is Adam Smith, a Democrat representing Washington’s 9th District.
Interesting about Gene Taylor voting against the bill. He was at a Eric Massa (ran against Randy Kuhl in NY) fundraiser in DC and seems to be friendly with General Clark. Guess his Mississippian-ness/southerness won the day.
Libra, I don’t know that anyone was really expecting we’d be able to get to 60 votes in the Senate. We did do better than I expected after seeing the House vote. Seven Republicans (Warner, Hagel, Coleman, Smith, Snowe, Specter, and Collins) voted with all the Democrats, for a total of 56.
I’m hoping more headlines look like the Washington Post’s “Senate Republicans Block Floor Vote on Iraq Resolution” than CNN’s “Democrats fail to win chance for Senate Iraq vote”.
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