Interesting. I’ve often pointed out that good RINOs obey the leadership, and vote with the party when the leaders tell them their vote is needed on critical bills.
Otherwise, the leaders let them vote as they like, to please their liberal constituents and get re-elected. Usually Collins and Snowe are good RINOs, about as good as you could get in Maine, and they come through in the clinch, unlike someone like Lincoln Chaffee, who defied the leadership and scuttled several important bills by one vote.
I’m wondering what the story was here. I know that Mainiacs seem to be very anti-war at the moment, for whatever reason. Did the leaders let them vote this way, because it doesn’t matter?
If you do the numbers, the Dems won, 53-45. If all four Republicans had voted the other way, it would have been 49-49.
Hmm. Maybe Hagel refused to play along no matter what, so they told Snowe and Collins, OK, you’d might as well please your constituents on this one, and the President will veto it.
Or maybe one of the missing two would have shown up to vote if it was a tie?
Who knows. Still, it’s certainly very annoying that Americans support this kind of behavior from their representatives, and that Republicans won’t line up with the party.
No, they didn't win. The Pubbies won. This was a procedural vote for cloture (to cut off the debate). It takes 60 votes to invoke cloture. The Dems didn't get 60, so the debate continues. So, actually, nothing happened.
...the President will veto it.
He can't. It's not a bill. It's a proceedural vote to end the "filibuster."