Yesterday, senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy began an effort to filibuster a final vote on the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. However, they were unable to muster a majority to support the filibuster, as many Senate Democrats broke away and voted against the filibuster. As a result, many in the Democratic progressive base are expressing fury, vowing to withhold support from any Democratic senator who voted to bring the nomination of Samuel Alito to a vote.

Senate Democrats have been vowing for years that, one of these days, they’ll stand up to the right wing Republicans, but with every opportunity to stand up, many Senate Democrats have sat down, saying that they will wait for another day, and another fight… year after year. What are they saving their ammunition for? We saw the whites of the Republicans’ eyes long ago.

For the record, here are the Democrats who voted for the filibuster:

Evan Bayh
Joseph Biden
Barbara Boxer
Hillary Clinton
Mark Dayton
Chris Dodd
Dick Durbin
Russell Feingold
Dianne Feinstein
Edward Kennedy
John Kerry
Frank Lautenberg
Patrick Leahy
Carl Levin
Bob Menendez
Barbara Mikulski
Patty Murray
Barack Obama
Jack Reed
Paul Sarbanes
Chuck Schumer
Debbie Stabenow
Ron Wyden

It is notable that new senator Bob Menendez, from New Jersey, voted for the filibuster. Good for you, Senator Bob. That’s a good start.

The following are the Democrats in the Senate who voted against the filibuster, and helped Samuel Alito on his way to the Supreme Court:

Daniel Akaka
Max Baucus
Jeff Bingaman
Robert Byrd
Maria Cantwell
Thomas Carper
Kent Conrad
Byron Dorgan
Daniel Inouye
Tim Johnson
Herbert Kohl
Mary Landrieu
Joseph Lieberman
Blanche Lincoln
Bill Nelson
Ben Nelson
Mark Pryor
John Rockefeller
Ken Salazar

You might brush off the progressives’ complaint, but there has been a shift in the Democratic grassroots toward a more progressive stand in the last year, and the votes of these senators show that. Consider this: Every senator who is considered a possible candidate for President in 2008 voted for the filibuster:

Bayh
Biden
Boxer
Clinton
Feingold
Kerry
Obama