Against the filibuster, against the bill

Now that it's 2009 and Barack Obama is president, Republicans claim that they believe voting against a filibuster is the same thing as voting for the bill.

They are, of course, wrong. Think back to what happened in 2003, the last major health care debate. In that year, Republicans took the exact opposite view when the Senate passed Bush's Medicare prescription drug coverage benefit by a vote of 54-44 on the heels of defeating a filibuster of the bill by a 70-29-1 vote.

That means 16 senators voted to end the filibuster and also against the bill. Among them were six Republicans, three of whom are still in the U.S. Senate:

1. John Ensign (R-NV)

2. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

3. Judd Gregg (R-NH)

4. Trent Lott (R-MS)

5. Don Nickles (R-OK)

6. John Sununu (R-NH)

Those six Republicans were joined by ten Democrats who voted to move the process forward despite opposing the underlying bill. Just three Republicans voted for the filibuster and against the bill (Chaffee, Hagel, and McCain.)

So the next time you hear a Republican say that voting against a filibuster is the same thing as voting for the bill, think back to the last time health care was on the Senate floor, and keep in mind that in their minds, the only thing that matters is stopping this administration from turning America back in the right direction. They don't care about the American public. The only thing they care about is their own political fortune, and they believe that health care is their Waterloo. They will do or say anything to stop Democrats, no matter what that means for the nation.