A Fristful of fence

As I noted yesterday, Senator Frist knew what he was talking about when he wrote on Thursday after the cloture vote that the border fence act would pass. Having already passed the House, the border fence bill passed the Senate yesterday 80-19. Mickey Kaus calls it “a Fristful of fence” and, among other interesting observations, notes:

Hillary did the traditional, sleazy Kabuki Straddle: On the final passage of the fence bill–the for-show vote–she voted “Yes.” But on the cloture motion–the one that really determined the fate of the bill–she voted “No.” Will anyone be fooled?

Answer: You can fool some of the people all of the time. The Washington Times story names all eight Democratic senators who relied on the “some of the people” proposition:

Eight Democratic senators who supported the bill last night switched their position from the previous day, when they voted to block the fence. They are Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Thomas Carper of Delaware, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Barack Obama of Illinois and Charles E. Schumer of New York.

Reader Howard Houston comments: “They voted against it before they voted for it!”

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