EckerNet.Com

Despite losing the cloture vote today, the day was not a complete loss.  Cloture was only lost by five votes and according to numerous sources there are at least that many Senators privately saying that while they voted for cloture, they don’t like the bill and probably will not vote for the next cloture on Thursday.

Now obviously today’s vote was our first and best chance to defeat the bill, but focus must now be directed towards the next hurdle.  Which means we need to switch some of those that voted yes, to vote no.  Realisitically this should not be hard to do if some of them are already having reservations.

If nothing else, today has mobilized voters to an even greater extent.  Many people, conservatives especially, are pissed off and letting their Senators know.  The reaction has been huge by all accounts, and it is my hope that the Senators who voted for cloture are hearing all of this and realizing that by voting for cloture they just invited a primary challenge for them the next time around.

I sincerely believe that the anti-amnesty crowd still has the momentum, it just wasn’t quite enough to get us over the hurdle today.  But hopefully this groundswell today’s cloture caused will help us build enough that on Thursday we will have enough.

Certainly our cause was given a huge boost today by the Republicans of the US House of Representatives.  In a meeting today, despite fevered attempts by a few to prevent it, House Republicans  voted 114 to 23 for a non-binding motion to express their disapproval of the Senate bill.  Now admittedly it is non-binding, but it certainly paints the picture that the House is going to be even harder than the Senate.    And it might finally convince some of the wavering Senators that this rickety gallows of a bill is not the place they should hang their political futures from.  And keep in mind this was a secret ballot…meaning that almost certainly some of those 23 would vote otherwise if they had to answer to the public and other legislators.

HOWEVER, there are also reasons to be in a more somber mood, if you’re not already there.  Quite a few pundits have noted that bill pretty much destroys any faith the public had in Congress.  A Congress they already had no confidence in ignored their wishes and forced through a bill that not only did they not want, but also hurt them tremendously.  Both Stanley Kurtz at NRO and Bryan at HotAir, amongst others I can’t remember, wrote excellent pieces on exactly that.

There are some that are almost naively optimistic that if we just wait long enough, we can improve this with amendments.  What they don’t understand is that this bill will NOT be improved.  The only amendments being allowed are those agreed upon in backroom negotiations amongst the pro-amnesty crowd.  Rather than honest debate, we’re starting a staged mock debate.  Pro-Amnesty senators are attempting to sell this bill to the masses by pretending they are participating in a democratic process, and it’s said to see that some people are believing them.  And despite optimistic beliefs, none of the approved amendments are going to even come close to making this bill palatable.

So while this bill will almost certainly die in the House, I would like it to die in the Senate so I can at least pretend I’m not completely disgusted at the actions of my wayward Senator.   And if in fact, he is the guy up for election for Senate in MN in 08, I can swallow my vomit long enough to mark his name rather than just leave it blank.

I am not holding my breath.