Also, couldn’t he have just kept the amendment off the bill in the first place? Isn’t there some parliamentary trick he could have used in the Senate in the first place?

Good luck and dog speed, Pups!

Does anyone know how Boccieri (D-OH) comes down on this?

Ask when you call!

Reid would not have done that without permission from the white house. True he didn’t want to have a war in the Senate over it, so it was win-win for him. But I think Rahm got cute and included something he could deal “out” to get House progressives on board, knowing that there might be a battle to get them to sign on to the supplemental.

Which was why we never focused on it that much, because getting them out was never going to be a true “win.” To be sure, if nobody had raised the alarm it would have gone through — it’s certainly something the administration wants — but Joe Lieberman will keep offering it up again and again, so it’s not like this is the last chance. Give Barney Frank props on that, he stepped out in front and led the battle. He didn’t have to.

But what they really want is the IMF. And as of this morning they’re losing Blue Dogs over it. We got in there early and leveraged anti-war sentiment, which we probably would not have had sufficient time to do without the photos. So quite honestly, it was win-win for us too, but not because anyone responsible intended that.

Does anyone know how Boccieri (D-OH) comes down on this?

That list is constructed because there are people who will be taking very inconsistent votes if they switch their positions now, so people who have supported them over the years — from within their districts and without — have a solid argument when they call them.

But it’s a bad bill all around for all the reasons outlined above, and I just spoke with someone on the Hill who says they don’t have the votes. It’ll probably get pushed til next week, but I’m still shaking my head that it has worked and progressives have power.

I’m hoping they can leverage it to get something meaningful, and “cash for clunkers” is chump change.

This whole thing may yet come down around liarman’s and huckleberry’s ears, and the mcconnell/sessions crowd et al., like an old dank musty blanket. Their obstruction just for the sake of petty ego issues should have no place in the scheme of government in such serious times. Too many people hurting and failing. They need help, not boastful medieval jousting.