It would be interesting to discover the real reasons why the Senators are fanatically determined to pass bills that assure lasting harm to a country that has given them so much.
That is just crazy talk. Sen. Byrd is concerned about one thing and one thing only, himself. He is a gasbag partisan, without a sense of decency. He is an embarrasment to his state, and deserves to be defeated since he lacks the grace to leave on his own. Unfotunately barring a health problem, he will be re-elected easily, and that sucks.
His partner in crime, Sen. Rockefeller, is also an embarrassment. West Virginia can do better than these buffoons. Without the pork express, there would likely be at least one GOP Senator from WV.
There are only two possible reasons. They are either severely mentally ill, or, they have been TOLD how to vote, and are "only obeying orders."
Today, Sen. Jeff Sessions said that he's been approached by many Republican Senators, who confided in him that this is a BAD piece of work, yet, they are voting FOR it -- and, hoping that the House will save them from themselves!
Now, if anyone can come up with any third explanation for that kind of behavior -- something besides "mentally ill", or "just obeying orders" -- I'm all ears.
Frankly, my money's on the latter explanation. It's "how sausage is made" in that town.
We like to think of ourselves as "the base" -- but we kid ourselves. There are two bases -- us, the "voting base", and the other base -- the base comprised of those with political clout. The "money" base, if you will.
The "other base" -- the one with all the clout -- calls the shots. OUR "base" is given lots of rah-rah, and, if we get too uppity, we're told to "Shut up and VOTE!"
Other than that, we really do NOT count.
The Party figures it owns our votes -- and history has pretty much proven them correct on that score. Even Rove jokes about stuff like, "well where are they gonna go?" when asked about discontent among "the base".
The "other base" will continue to exercise its clout, and it's pretty obvious that they want this travesty to go through to completion, they intend to see it through, and they are NOT accustomed to NOT getting what they want.
And "our" Party is likewise not prone to denying the denizens of the "other base" that which they demand. After all, The Party can't very well boss them around like they intimidate us into "voting for the lesser of two evils", or "holding our nose and voting 'R'", or, the ace in the hole, "What are you gonna do, stay home, and let HILLARY get elected?"
Welcome to the gritty side of realpolitik. And yes, it sucks. Bigtime.