Five Republicans joined Democrats in a key cloture vote moments ago, allowing debate on a jobs package to move forward. After overcoming this hurdle, debate on the bill can begin.
Good. Glad to see that a few dissonant voices have broken through the Filibuster Chorus. Let's see who decided to let the sunshine in.
Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) broke with his party and voted with the Democrats. So did Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kit Bond (R-MO) and George Voinovich (R-OH).
Hmmm. Scott Brown, you say? Happy to see that. I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Also happy to see the Ladies from Maine doing a bit to shore up that (questionably valid) reputation for bipartisanship. No surprises there. Ditto Voinovich.
But... Kit Bond? Kit Bond?!??! Really? This Kit Bond?
I have no idea what to make of this. If Bond's impending retirement had shown other signs of inducing sanity, then this wouldn't be so surprising. But, in addition to his unhinged criticism of Obama over closing Gitmo, he's also not been particularly supportive on the domestic front, either. He's been a rock-ribbed Republican party-line voter since the Dawn of Ever, so this is a very surprising turn of events.
If, however, this signals a late-breaking passion for actually accomplishing things, then I applaud his decision to retire and lament that it didn't come sooner.
Update: Oh, the humanity!!
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This is totally a Hollywood movie where he had a stroke or something, and then the strangest thing happened...the scrooge-y conservative becomes a thoughtful liberal!
ReplyDeleteNo, no, it is a well documented medical fact that if you kill off regions of the brain associated with higher reasoning and with numeracy, conservatives turn into liberals. 8^)
ReplyDeleteFor an example, look at Pres. Scary-smart, who revealed today he hasn't the faintest clue about how automobile insurance works ("I bought the minimum liability, and the pirates wouldn't repair my car!").