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09/27/2007
Breaking: Right-wing's most lied about bill advances
Holy mother of bias prevention! By a 60-39 cloture vote, the Senate has advanced their version of the much-debated hate crimes legislation:
Senate votes 60-39 for cloture on hate crimes legislation; voice vote adds Kennedy-Smith hate crimes amendment to Department of Defense authorization bill [HRC Backstory]
So will the bill, which is moving forward as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill, be able to withstand Bush's brazenly misguided and out of step threats to veto? Well, we'll all have to stay tuned to see if the president wants to be remembered as someone who forfeited his opportunity to be a civil rights proponent, or if he wants to be remembered as someone who REALLY, REALLY forfeited his opportunity to be a civil rights proponent. We promise to keep you posted.
(H/t: Joe.My.God)
**UPDATE: Larry Craig voted against it. Full vote breakdown after the jump:
YEAs ---60
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs ---39
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Martinez (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Not Voting - 1
McCain (R-AZ)
Your thoughts
The Matthew Sheppard Act is urgently needed despite its weaknesses; the penalties aren’t harsh enough to deter hate crimes and they don’t routinely include the politicians and religious fanatics who incite violence.
The urgency is obvious because the last few weeks have seen a national upturn in violence against gays and lesbians identical to those that played out in 2000 and 2004. The Republicans and the christian bigots are already hatemongering and we still have a year to go. The Democrats response, slicker and quieter but no less damaging, denies our right to marriage and full equality.
The combination of the three makes us, in the eyes of thugs and bigots, second class citizens. Wherever groups are made unequal by force of law, they're in jeopardy and the upsurge in beatings and even murders means we’re in for rough times again.
If it makes it past the Bigot in Chief in the White House we’ll have to press hard for its implementation
Posted by: Bill Perdue | Sep 27, 2007 4:12:37 PM
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