MetaChat - Thanks, Senator.

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08 June 2006

Thanks, Senator. So, did you contact your Senators to thank them for voting against the anti-gay-marriage amendment?
→[More:]
a) I don't have a Senator. For, you see, I live in the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, or outside the U.S.
b) Yep, sure did.
c) Nope, but I will right now.
d) Nope--my Senators voted in favor of it, thank God.
e) Nope--my Senators voted in favor of it, the pricks.
f) One Senator from my state voted for it, and one voted against it. Now I don't know what to do.
g) I am sick of writing choices.

post by: box at: 09:24 | 33 comments

I'm gonna have to go with a)!

posted by richat 08 June | 09:36

I finally found a list of who voted what, on the Home School Legal Defense page, of all places.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 June | 09:36

Although technically, this voting roll for the *debate* of the bill, not the bill itself. The amendment never came to a vote. Just because someone voted to open the floor to debate doesn't necessarily mean they would have voted for the amendment. So keep that in mind.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 June | 09:37

posted by sciurus 08 June | 09:39

No, and I didn't call and thank him for opposing the kill-all-the-brown-people amendment or that he didn't run over any old ladies in the street. I'm funny that way.

posted by kmellis 08 June | 09:41

posted by betty 08 June | 09:44

Ingrate.

*runs over little old lady*
*with Hot Wheels*

posted by jonmc 08 June | 09:44

None of the above.

posted by Hugh Janus 08 June | 09:45

posted by altolinguistic 08 June | 09:53

e) here, as well.

posted by BoringPostcards 08 June | 09:58

a)

Sparing you the whole Australian consitutional bullshit, we have a similar situation.

(Actually I'm not sparing you anything, I suppose).

Our "capital" is in a sheep paddock half way between Sydney and Melbourne (the main metropolises). We have a federal system, so states are fairly independent.

The capital sits in the Australian Capital Territory (imaginative, eh?), and the other territory is the Northern Territory.

The ACT government voted for same sex unions but the Feds want to quash it.

I could bore you with lots of details, but the point is, our Prime Minister is trying to overturn legislation that allows same sex unions (by overturning another legislature's decision) just because he wants to cause embarrassment to the opposition party.

He's just come back from a visit to the USA. Coincidence? Pig's arse.

The same bloke (our PM) is apparently the poster boy of the Cannucks's new PM.

It's a small world.

Are you getting the nuclear power debate too?

posted by GeckoDundee 08 June | 10:01

with a 50/48/2 vote, I'm assuming some Republicans voted Nay. Anybody know who they were? I want to send them thank yous.

We're not getting much in the way of nuclear power debates. Nobody in the US gets sufficiently excited about nuclear power to distract us from the real problems we're facing.

posted by I Love Tacos 08 June | 10:05

Nuclear power debate? That's so 80's.

posted by matildaben 08 June | 10:15

Repubicans from ThePinkSuperhero's link:
McCain
Chafee
Snowe
Graham, Lindsey
Conrad
Sununu
Collins

However--that link is for the 2004 vote.

posted by mullacc 08 June | 10:18

According to this page that someone linked to on Mefi, the Republicans who voted 'Nay' are John McCain, Lincoln Chafee, Arlen Specter and the Senators from Maine and New Hampshire (Collins, Snowe, Gregg, Sununu).

(Democrats who voted 'Yea' include Robert Byrd and somebody (Byron?) Nelson (D-NE). Chuck Hagel didn't vote, which I mention because it makes me wonder if he's abandoned his Presidential aspirations.)

posted by box 08 June | 10:19

posted by krix 08 June | 10:20

Here is yesterday's vote.

Republicans include:
Chafee (R-RI)
Collins (R-ME)
Gregg (R-NH)
McCain (R-AZ)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Sununu (R-NH)

Democrats voting yea:
Byrd (D-WV)
Nelson (D-NE)

Not voting:
Dodd (D-CT)
Hagel (R-NE)
Rockefeller (D-WV)

posted by mullacc 08 June | 10:22

Damnit, box. If ThePinkSuperhero hadn't distracted me with her 2004 decoy, I would've won.

posted by mullacc 08 June | 10:24

I was going to say, I am not in the habit of thanking people for not being depraved bigoted cynical pricks, but kmellis said it for me.

posted by Divine_Wino 08 June | 10:27

E.

Damn it.

posted by grabbingsand 08 June | 10:27

Yours is formatted better, though.

Will someone who knows more about politics than I do please try to explain why Dodd, Rockefeller and Hagel didn't vote? I realize that Congresspeople miss a lot of votes while they're out golfing with lobbyists or fucking Jeff Gannon or whatever, but this one was pretty high-profile, right?

posted by box 08 June | 10:28

I, too, am not usually in the habit of thanking people for not being pricks.

In this particular case, however, I imagine that my Senators will get a lot of mail from anti-gay-marriage types (especially since I live in a fairly conservative state), and so it seems like a good time to speak up.

posted by box 08 June | 10:31

I don't think it's as simple as saying that they chose not to be bigots. They chose to cut off a fake issue, designed to help their political party. I knew the amendment wouldn't pass, but I assumed the debate would be dragged out as a long, obnoxious distraction from our nation's real problems.

Their decision to go against their party surely had negative consequences for them. I believe it should also have positive consequences.

posted by I Love Tacos 08 June | 10:39

d)

Durbin and Obama are my senators and I love them both. : )

posted by sisterhavana 08 June | 10:53

Whoops! Make that c). I read the answer wrong. : )

posted by sisterhavana 08 June | 10:54

Gah. I'd like to write Lincoln Chaffee a note thanking him as he's a Republican and all, but I'm not a registered voter in Rhode Island.

This is a reminder that I need to get on that.

(I'm still registered in Vermont and yeah, like there's a question. I bet pretty soon civil unions will be extended to include man-on-moose lurve. Damn hippies.)

posted by grapefruitmoon 08 June | 11:07

Well, my Senator is Hillary so I'll just kill a puppie during the next full moon for her. By all means encourage the senators who might take flak for this, although they should know better already.

posted by Divine_Wino 08 June | 11:11

You know, you could find who voted what in box's link.

posted by gaspode 08 June | 12:54

z) None of the above - Cantwell & Murray voted against the amendment and I haven't thanked them. Well, I thanked them in my head but I don't think they heard me.

posted by deborah 08 June | 13:24

Where, gaspode? I looked and couldn't find it.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 June | 13:52

You're in NYC, right, Pinky? Hillary and Chuck both voted against it (or, as you note, against beginning debate on it).

posted by box 08 June | 15:01

TPS: on the right click on "previous session" and it says everything that was voted on yesterday. And look for the marriage act thingy.

posted by gaspode 08 June | 16:31

z) none of the above. imho there's no reason to take a cloture motion for consideration of a proposed bullshit amendment -- that has no chance of ever becoming law -- seriously.

see also.

luckily, my senators (herb kohl and especially russ feingold!) are fantastic.

posted by Wedge 08 June | 20:08

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