Un-f’ing-believable
With 57 Senators voting in favor of DC voting rights, the majority was not enough to stop a few small, small Senators from dropping the F-bomb. The filibuster came from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Minority Whip Trent Lott, the one who celebrated Strom Thurmond’s failed 1948 segregationist presidential bid as glimpse of a rosy alternative history. Hmmmm. I wonder why he didn’t support DC voting rights?
As DC Vote notes,
This is the first filibuster of a voting rights bill since the era of segregation. The opposition of Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott reminds us of a time when a minority of Senators blocked the door to democracy and freedom … Shame on them. Shame also on Thad Cochran, John McCain and Gordon Smith, a group of Senators that did not have the courage to stand with us and against the outrageous tactics of their party leaders.
It really is hard to see longstanding politicians draw a line that stands not on principle nor integrity, but an atavistic partisan stance reminiscent of jim crow. Really hard. It makes one doubt not just human character, but the principles of the party. A supermajority could’ve passed the bill, and the few who couldn’t step up are marked by their neglect. Perhaps smaller than the Senators who filibustered were those who refused to defy a party position they know to be unjust.
History will note their names, though the character of such men are, perhaps, better suited for footnotes.