22 Democrats caved into the Bush administration yesterday and voted for the Cornyn Amendment. First of all, John Cornyn is in no position to lecture us about civility; he is the same senator who empathised with the lynch mobs over judges. Next, it is unconscionable that the Democrats who were elected to represent us could forget that and not recognize the hypocrisy that is involved in his amendment.
And Harry Reid should be ashamed of himself. He is the boss. He should not have wasted eight hours of the country's time so that people like Cornyn could grandstand with fake outrage and ooze with concern like a concern troll at Daily Kos. That would be like what would happen if we did not feed concern trolls a steady diet of donuts every day.
Where the Democrats lack resolve, we have to show resolve. Every time they cave in like this, we must discuss who, if anyone, should be primaried out of office over this. If they want to play nice and cut deals with the Republicans, we primary out another candidate. And so on, and so on, until they get the message.
Dianne Feinstein is already on the list. You can vote on prospective replacements here up until Tuesday, when I will put another diary up (and hopefully not forget to put up one of the candidates). We decided to primary her out over the FISA bill, as well as many other caveins over her career. Her vote to cave in to Cornyn was just one more reason why she should be primaried out of office.
Here are all of the Democrats who voted to cave in yesterday:
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)
Out of those 22, the following Senators also voted for the FISA cavein:
Lincoln (AR)
Pryor (AR)
Feinstein (CA)
Salazar (CO)
Carper (DE)
Nelson (FL)
Bayh (IN)
Landrieu (LA)
Mikluski (MD)
Klobuchar (MN)
Nelson (NE)
Casey (PA)
Conrad (ND)
Webb (VA)
McCaskill (MO)
Feinstein is taken off the list because we are already in the process of primarying her. If you think none of these should be primaried, then vote for None of the Above.
This leaves 14 senators that both voted for FISA and who voted for the Cornyn amendment. Which of these Senators should be primaried out of office?