Update: was heartened by all the interesting comments, esp. the ones hailing T. Harkin, P. Murray, M. Cantwell, C. Levin, S. Whitehouse, C. Schumer as some of the other heroic stalwarts of the current Senate. People also had other strong opinions in the comments, mostly positive and some negative, on J. Webb, C. McCaskill, T. Kennedy, R. Wyden, S. Brown among others (and Barnie Frank, though he's a Rep!). I note also that out of 230-odd votes, Kerry got just one, and C. Dodd none..
At the current time, Sanders is the clear 'winner' with 36% of the vote, Webb and Feingold tie for second at 12%, and Boxer comes in third at 9%.
Begin original diary:
There's a diary on the reclist currently that praises Bernie Sanders as a rockstar for facing down Judd Gregg on his anti-Obama comments which i definitely recommend esp for those who are not familiar with Sanders and his very fine socialist (woohoo!!) history.
I commented on the diary as below -- and it made me curious just who people dig the most in the Senate, if you have to pick one. For me it will i think always be B.Boxer because i worked on the election issues of 2004, and she was the one who stood up at that time (and i'm a native Californian, though currently displaced to the fine state of Ohio temporarily) -- but there are many more who i've been impressed by before and since too. Thus, this poll, and i look esp. forward to comments about who you are most psyched about..
Oh yes -- Sanders F---ING ROCKS the HOUSE
(Or Senate, as the case may be) -- but please don't forget some other very rocking Senators who have taken lone voice courageous positions at various times -- particularly Boxer and Feingold but also Sherrod Brown, Kerry, Kennedy, Leahy, Durbin, Wyden, Webb, McCaskill and Dodd, who top my list (and i'd be happy to hear who others' fave Sens are, and why).
No, i'm not saying they're great on everything, and sometimes i'm rather annoyed at various weak positions they take on things -- but several of them have done very heroic things at times, and i do think we need to recognize that, and applaud them for it -- no good to just single out one person as a savior, because for one, politics is about compromise (and i don't think any Kossack would continue to visit this site and be a part of the at times agonizingly excruciating process if we didn't recognize that), and for another, that savior is going to disappoint you at times, don't forget.
So yes, let's applaud Bernie, but let's not lionize him as the only rockstar out there, shall we..?