I am, as my moniker notes, a big tent Democrat, not one who is likely to have lines drawn in the sand. While pro-choice, I welcome anti-choice voters to our Party. While pro-free trade, I hope that "fair traders" will not want to drum me out of the Party. But the events of today are different. Outrage and shame for the efforts and votes of our Democratic officials strikes me as the right reaction. Remaining calm the inappropriate one. Thursday was a dark day for our nation, and to not recognize and appreciate that is not the right attitude for a committed progressive Democrat in my view.

Barack Obama said:

I may have only been in this body for a short while, but I am not naive to the political considerations that go along with many of the decisions we make here. I realize that soon, we will adjourn for the fall, and the campaigning will begin in earnest. And there will be 30-second attack ads and negative mail pieces, and we will be called everything from cut-and-run quitters to Defeatocrats to people who care more about the rights of terrorists than the protection of Americans. And I know that the vote before us was specifically designed and timed to add more fuel to that fire.

And yet, while I know all of this, I'm still disappointed, and I'm still ashamed. Because what we're doing here today - a debate over the fundamental human rights of the accused - should be bigger than politics. This is serious.

Leader Harry Reid said

History will judge our actions here today. I am convinced that future generations will view passage of this bill as a grave error. I wish to be recorded as one who voted against taking this step.

I believe Sen. Reid made a tactical mistake by not fighting in a filibuster, instead of in amendments. But I do not doubt Sen. Reid and Senator Obama would have filibustered had the votes been there.

I am ashamed and outraged that 25% of our Democratic representatives, people like Harold Ford and Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller and Frank Lautenberg, Debbie Stabenow, Bob Menendez and Bill Nelson, chose politics over what was right on this monumental issue. Thursday was the most egregious day in the Bush Era. The Congress, with the support of 25% of the Democrats, voted unprecedented powers to the President, condoned state sanctioned torture and eviscerated the Constitution.

That Republicans would be a part of this is not a surprise. That 25% of Democrats were is a surprise, shameful, outrageous, shocking and hurtful. Yes, hurtful. Because we believe in the Democratic Party on the most basic level. That it believes in what is right.

Yes, as Obama notes, politics is politics. But is politics everything? Is principle nothing? Do Democrats stand for anything anymore? Not even the Constitution? The rule of law? Human decency? Do the 25% who betrayed the principles of our country and Party believe in nothing?

I am outraged and ashamed that these people are Democrats. I will let them know. Does that mean I won't support the Democratic Party anymore? Of course not, but these rogue Dems will know that if we get a chance to replace them, we will. Because they weren't Democrats today. At least not what I think Democrats are.

Of course the kicker is that these Democrats, these rogue 25%, who think they are playing smart politics are just plain dumb as well. Bob Menendez needs trouble with his base right now? Is he nuts? Sherrod Brown? The rest (maybe Harold Ford made the right political call, but who knows)?

Chris Bowers took the tack of "keep your eyes on the prize." And that was wrong. The prize, the big prize is our country, our Constitution, our values, our principles. And on that day, it behooved all progressives to speak up about the outrage of these rogue Democrats. Chris and many others wanted to brush that under the rug. That was wrong.

In a must-read post today, Digby wrote:

As I watched the torture debate unfold this week, I was acutely aware of exactly those deficiencies in the party and saw the whole ugly mess as a result of terrible partisan tactics and non-existent strategy. But something else niggled at the back of my mind. There was something tremendously meaningful happening about which Democrats of good faith were deeply concerned and it had nothing to do with partisanship and everything to do with citizenship.

Citizenship is why we are Democrats, or so we thought. Chris Bowers and those like him forgot this. And he not only lost his moral way, but he made a bad political judgment, as did the Democratic Party that did not bring more pressure to bear on its rogue elements. Ben Nelson and Tim Johnson and Harold Ford can be explained away. Bob Menendez, Frank Lautenberg, Sherrod Brown and Jay Rockefeller can not be explained away.

Digby says:

I was reminded one of one the previous times such an outrageous, hurried, ill conceived machination was presented as a fait accomplis by the Bush administration and it brought millions of people into the streets -- the Iraq war. I recall pragmatic voices saying at the time that protesting was a bad move, that it hurt our image, that we should concentrate on gaining institutional power. And I wrote at the time that I understood why people said that, but you have to give people something more than dry tactics and strategy in politics:

People need to feel part of something in order to get involved in politics. And as someone who has volunteered in many a campaign I can tell you that for the last decade it has had all the uplifting inspiration of the Bataan death march. It is work with no satisfaction in the soul or spirit and without that politics becomes nothing more than a duty.

I thought about that this week. Most people don't commit themselves to politics simply because they want to win or even because they want to stop someone else from winning (although when dealing with these modern Republicans that is a huge factor.) Most of us are interested and involved because we believe in certain things and we care about our country and our government. We band together with others who share our ideology and our values.

Indeed, if you want an energized base, to be pragmatic about it, you can not spit in their face, as 25% of the Democratic Party did last Thursday. Chris Bowers and those like him simply misunderstand this. At their peril. It is not surprising that Chris was wrongly accused of being mollified. Because his mistaken take on the events of Thursday could lead people to reasonably conclude that he has been coopted. His reaction, and those of too many, was so off key, so amoral, that it seems a bit trite to now complain about the reasonable reactions to his reactions.

Digby says:

I want to win, don't get me wrong. And I'm a pragmatist by nature so I have little patience with purity pledges or tilting at windmills. But I am explicitly liberal in orientation and I want to see this country tilt back to a more liberal politics. If I was afraid to make a point of that before this week I no longer am. I learned that even upholding the constitution is now a matter of liberal political ideology instead of simple mainstream patriotism.

I am not a liberal. I am a Centrist. I believe that the event of Thursday were a question of mainstream patriotism. If the Republican Party had stood by the Constitution on Thursday, I would have applauded them. I did not expect the Republican Party to. I did expect the Democratic Party to, to the point of near unanimity. That is why I am a Democrat. I was taught on Thursday that my belief was not based in reality. Naively, I was shocked and disgusted by 25% of our Democratic officials on Thursday. And yes, that did weaken my commitment to the Democratic Party. And I am sure I am not alone.

So, in my view, not only were the actions of 1/4 of the Democratic Party morally bereft, it was politically stupid as well. No one who favors torture will be swayed by the actions of these Democrats on Thursday. But a lot of Democrats will be moved to care less about the Democratic Party because of it.

My DD has a series they call the Ad Accountability project, where they evaluate political advertising by Democrats. Too bad a little accountability was missing on the events of Thursday.