Webb Amendment Blocked, Defeated

Bush enablers Senate Republicans successfully torpedoed a vote on the Webb Amendment today by blocking a cloture vote on the issue. While your favorite news agency is likely to report to you that the Webb Amendment failed on a 56-44 vote, what they'll fail to mention is that the 56-44 vote was procedural sleight-of-hand trick on a "cloture" vote. It's complicated, see? But I'll let Josh Marshall break it all down for you:

The voting is over on the Webb troop-rest amendment. It passed 56-44, meaning it didn't get enough votes to clear a GOP filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Ried had this to say after the day's events:

“In blocking this bipartisan bill, Republicans have once again demonstrated that they are more committed to protecting the President than protecting our troops. They have shown they will allow President Bush’s flawed war strategy to continue to strain our military rather than allow the availability of troops to dictate our operations. And they believe it is in our national security interest to push our brave troops and their families beyond their breaking point.


“Democrats disagree. We care deeply about rebuilding our badly overextended military and ensuring our troops have the time to properly train, prepare for and recover from battle. And Democrats remain committed to repaying in some small measure the sacrifices our brave troops are making every day.”