Leslie Southwick, of Mississippi, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit.
Despite a concentrated effort by the netroots to intimidate the Democratic politicians, 9 Democratic politicians crossed the aisle and voted Yea to confirm Southwick.
Those Democratic politicians that did what they thought was best instead of letting the netroots dictate to them are:
Akaka (D-HI)
Byrd (D-WV)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
And Lieberman.
You can keep up with reactions as they start to come in, over at memeorandum.
More from Political Ticker and The Swamp.
Reactions to come and I will update as they do.
I haven't seen the whining from the netroots on memeorandum yet, but they have started on technorati:
Firedoglake is "peeved", poor thing.
I’d like an explanation. And it had better not just be “comity” or “go along to get along” or “they promised to vote for our budget…only until the President vetoes it, that is” that put Southwick into a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. Because that is not good enough. Not by a long shot.
And while I’m at it, what in the hell was Ben Nelson of Nebraska doing cutting a deal on Southwick behind the scenes with Trent Lott? And why is it that the Democratic leadership continues to get its ass kicked on whip counts and back-door deals by the GOP?
[...]
In case anyone is wondering, yes, I am peevish. Because the Nelson quote at the end there truly is the most naive and idiotic thing I have heard all week — especially given the veto threats still looming out there for each and every budget question that still has to pass the House and Senate. Comity my ass…
Yesterday someone named Hamsher over at Firedoglake was "offended" by Stark's being forced to apologize, and today this Smith women is "peeved".... ummm, so what?
Carpetbagger Report is annoyed and feels "let down" that the Democrats "caved" again.
There have been quite a few veiled threats of late over the Southwick nomination, with Republicans vowing a full-blown partisan war unless he won Senate approval. In this sense, the good news is the chamber will avoid yet another ugly fight. The bad news is, too many Senate Dems caved (again) and an awful Bush judicial nominee gets a lifetime appointment to a key judicial seat.
For a while, it looked like Dems had the votes to block Southwick in committee, but then Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) let us down. Then, it looked like Dems had the votes to block Southwick on the floor, but that was before Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) let us down, striking some nebulous deal with Republicans, whereby Southwick wins confirmation in exchange for GOP support on some spending bills.
The Left Coaster is so obsessed with Bush and Iraq he cannot seem to separate a vote on a United States Circuit Judge from Iraq.
More reactions!!! Talk Left:
Who's in Charge? "Dream Act" Fails, Southwick Wins
With votes like these, it's difficult to believe the Democrats are the majority party in Congress.
More. Whining. Reactions.
It goes on and on and on.....
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