We all know what happened. For partisan gain, Republicans decided to embrace torture, shred the most fundamental principles of American law, and put innocent people at risk of spending their lives in jail without trials on terrorism prosecutions. They intended to give Democrats a horrible choice. Go along, and their base would be demoralized at the ensuing disaster. Fight, and they would be hammered for supporting terrorists' rights.
Most Democrats -- 160 of 194 in the House, and 32 of 44 in the Senate -- fought. Admittedly, they didn't filibuster. That would've taken at least 7 more Senators. And even if Harry Reid could've somehow put it together, Republicans would've been happy to use the filibuster as a month-long commercial about Democrats obstructing the War on Terror. Whenever they wanted their triumphant ending, the nuclear option was available. It's hard to see how Democrats could've beat this thing, even totally united.
The purpose of this post isn't to excuse Senate Democrats, though. It's to call attention to the people who may yet make this whole maneuver backfire on the Republican Party.
