You may have been here for the little discussion about the cloture vote yesterday. It was an excersize about the viability of the filibuster, whether it's outlived its usefulness ... and who was even there on one of the most important Senate votes since Bush asked for permission to spook Saddam Hussein into letting the nuclear inspectors back into Iraq (which ultimately led to the debacle that destroyed our ever being able to afford to address this economic disaster.)
Thanks to Kossack, Cocinero for bringing us this little tidbit.
Now try to wrap your brain around this: The United States Senate was about to have a cloture vote; to decide whether the republicans would be permitted to filibuster final vote on the Senate version of HR-1, the House's answer to President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment plan to save us (and perhaps the world ... yes, the entire world) from complete financial ruin.
Some people voted yes. Some people voted no. But John Cornyn wasn't even there to vote.
He was at a New York gathering of prominent media conservatives and Wall Street Republican donors called the Monday Meeting, held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
Though not a fundraiser, the meeting is a hub of conservative money and buzz, a good place for Cornyn to tap into resources in his role as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The meetings are off-the-record, but a source there emails me that Cornyn -- who was billed as speaking about the 2010 senate races -- took some pokes at Democratic leaders, saying that "Nancy Pelosi drives the train" and describing Chuck Schumer as a "human vacuum cleaner."
Get that? Ben Smith from Politico informs you Texans that this remnant of the GW Bush/Tom DeLay years of republican corruption just decided that saving the planet from fiscal disaster wasn't even important enough to vote on. He was off with his New Deal denying buddies, laughing and hootin' and hollerin' and carryin' on, making jokes about his those idiots back at work, and cowardly avoiding even taking a stand. Democratic legend Edward Kennedy, who was at home teetering somewhere between well enough to walk to the mail box and walking into the light ... made it on a plane and down to the Capital Building to take this vote. But John couldn't explain to his rich pals he might have to take a pass on a partisan fest while he took a simple vote.
John Cornyn is a coward and is unfit to represent any state in the country.
Just thought you'd like to know.
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