Attempt at Filibuster Breaking All-Nighter Fails

Well, I admit to having mixed feelings on this whole subject. Last night Harry Reid organized an all-nighter for the Senate, originally stating that his intention was to do a role call several times throughout the night. The point of which would obviously be to embarrass Senators who refused to show up.

By the time the action started, or moreover, finished, it had dwindled to only 2 separate roll calls, and very little in the way of an effort to embarrass the Republicans. In fact, many (Republicans) would note that the Democrats were far more likely to have been embarrassed by their lack of solidarity in the matter... Well, aside from the fact that all 51 Democrats voted to end the debate (and thus the filibuster, allowing for nothing but a string of symbolic, if not meaningful, votes to be vetoed by Bush, thus placing the blame for Iraq squarely on his shoulders), not near enough Republicans sided with them to end this mess. Perhaps it's just not close enough to next November, then?

While I'm disappointed that Reid didn't keep his promise on role calls, and that he didn't threaten to continue into the next night, or the night after that, until the Republicans finally break, I am not unhappy that they fought. I just wish they'd fight harder.

In some pseudo-Asian wisdom: Wet bamboo is flexible and bends with the storms, but dry bamboo hits much harder.