In response to Edward Heath's economic flip-flopping - in more demure Britain termed "U-turn" - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher coined one of her most famous phrases: "You turn [U-turn] if you want to; the Lady's not for turning". If in no other issue, in steadfastness, the first female American President in waiting ought to emulate the first female British Prime Minister. For when it comes to Iran, this (American) Lady is very much for turning.

It seems as if at least the blogsphere has cast her final verdict on Hillary flip-flopping on Iran faster than Mitt Romney on abortion, and Timothy Garton Ash wrote a fictitious op-ed in The Guardian already last year about the repercussions of a President Hillary Clinton attacking Iran in March 2009. But hold on, aren't we doing Hillary injustice? Didn't Hillary join Jim Webb in co-sponsoring an amendment that would effectively check on the president's war powers? True, but she did that just a couple of days after distinguishing herself as the only Democratic frontrunner to support the bellicose Kyl-Lieberman Amendment.

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I'm a bit behind in writing about the Senate's voting to condemn Moveon, partly because it's been a busy couple of days but mostly because I find the vote so disheartening.  Three days later and I'm still upset.  Last week was a culmination of bad votes, and let's be honest a bad week for Democratic values.  We lost on Habeas, we lost on the Webb Amendment, and even the failed Levin-Reed ended up being a watered down version of what it could have been.

In a sea of defeats why does Moveon stick out like a sore thumb for me?  Because it was so damn pointless.  What a complete waste of the Senate's time.  We don't elect Senators to publicly condemn statements they don't agree with.  We elect them to govern.  

Chris Dodd said it best.  His statement has been all over the Internets, but it's worth repeating:

It is a sad day in the Senate when we spend hours debating an ad while our young people are dying in Iraq. Now that the Senate has twice voted on this ad, it is time to move on and vote to end the war.

There is a time and a place for political theater.  I personally have no problem with anyone disliking the ad and using it to score political points.  Condemn Moveon in press releases, on cable news and talk radio shows, and in campaign materials.  Engage in whatever sanctimony you want.  But is it to much to ask that you keep the mock outrage off of the Senate floor?

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Watch it HERE.

Update [2007-9-19 17:46:52 by Todd Beeton]: So far, Republican Senators Hagel, Coleman, Sununu, Smith, Snowe and Collins have voted Aye (Lugar, Voinovich and Specter all voted No, not sure if they were among the fence-sitters Democrats were hoping to turn.) Warner voted no as he said he would.

Update [2007-9-19 17:55:39 by Todd Beeton]: Cloture on amendment failed 56-44. "Amendment has been withdrawn." Now they're about to vote on the useless McCain "sense of the senate" amendment. I understand that there was an agreement that this amendment would require 60 votes to pass.

Update [2007-9-19 18:14:31 by Todd Beeton]: The McCain amendment goes down too, 55-45.

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