Senate All Nighter Out Take

By now most people have heard about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) political grandstanding stunt of keeping the Senate in session all night last Wednesday/Thursday. The stated reason for this unusual event was the Democrats desire to force President Bush to agree to Time Lines for Iraq Troop Withdrawals. While the event did go all night, the Troop Withdrawal measures failed.

That much you have probably heard, but you probably did not hear about the Non-Binding resolutions which objected to the pardons issued by both President Bush and his Predecessor, Former President Clinton. The AP has the story though. The story title, Senate Bickers Over Libby Legislation, tells only half of the story, however. But that's OK because we know the MSM is not biased. The AP, after all, does report the Libby Pardon in paragraph 2.

In the heat of a partisan spat, Democrats forced a vote on a nonbinding measure to instruct President Bush not to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But there's no record of the 47-49 vote in the daily record of congressional proceedings - or anywhere else. [Emphasis mine]

I'll come back to the reason there is no record of the vote a little later. But, 1^st notice the bolded vote total. Even though it was non-binding, it failed. Now in its' fair and balanced reporting, it's paragraph eleven before the AP reveals the details of the offending pardons under President Clinton. Notice there's no mention of a vote total.

Republicans took their turn, offering a nonbinding resolution deploring the actions of Bill Clinton for issuing pardons to the likes of his half brother Roger, and clemency for members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group blamed for bombings in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now why was the vote not recorded? The AP explains.

That's because senators agreed less than an hour later to undo their vote and pretend it had never happened.

There was one measure during this Overwhelmingly Political event which passed by a wide majority.

They included a measure by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., approved 94-3, putting the Senate on record against transferring terrorism detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to "facilities in American communities and neighborhoods." That was a direct dig at Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who has proposed shifting the detainees to U.S. prisons and shutting down Guantanamo. [Emphasis mine]

At least it was not a total waste of taxpayer money.