The Stepford Party

In the aftermath, a few weeks ago, of passage of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, there was major and justified criticism of the Democratic-led Congress. And I believe that contributions from the telecommunications industry to the Democratic and Republican national conventions played a role. Still, to keep matters in perspective: while there were in the Senate 21 misguided Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, a majority- 27- of Democrats voted against it. (In that calculation, Connecticut's Lieberman, who voted "aye," and Vermont's Sanders, who voted "no," are counted as Independents; Massachusetts' Kennedy, Arizona's McCain, and Alabama's Sessions did not vote.)

Aside from the Independent (but always caucusing as a Democrat) Sanders, the other Senators who voted against the bill were: Barbara Boxer, Joseph Biden, Christopher Dodd, Daniel Akaka, Richard Durbin, Thomas Harkin, Benjamin Cardin, John Kerry, Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Amy Klobuchar, Jon Tester, Harry Reid, Frank Lautenberg, Robert Menendez, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Jeff Bingaman, Byron Dorgan, Sherrod Brown, Ron Wyden, John Reed, Patrick Leahy, Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Robert Byrd, and Russell Feingold.

That would be 27 Democrats. An insufficient number, but how many Repubs voted for the Fourth Amendment? Zero (0).