Pop quiz: why did Blanche Lincoln miss today’s vote for cloture on the filibuster that is holding up, among other things, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?
“Senator [Blanche] Lincoln didn’t make it back to this vote because she was in a dentist chair, and [she] ran back and missed it by three minutes,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters tonight. “She was very frustrated and apologized to both of us.”
“I would like to have been recorded as voting yes,” Lincoln said on the floor when she arrived, too late to record a vote. “Had I been here I would have voted yes.”
Yeah, and had you not been a mediocre senator throughout your tenure, had you not treated Halter voters post-primary like they were stupid sheep who would willingly fall in line behind you, and had you run a halfway decent campaign, you might have had a chance to beat John Boozman. But you didn’t do any of those things, just like you didn’t put your dentist appointment off until you are unemployed in a few weeks.
(Speaking of, PLEASE tell me that you didn’t schedule this appointment now because it was the only time you could get in before you lost your government-provided insurance. That would be a disgusting low, even for you.)
I’m just sort of floored by this. Did Lincoln really not stop to think, “hey, maybe during the final days of the Lame Duck session, when my vote might still have relevance, I should put off any non-critical appointments so I don’t miss anything”? If not, while I may not be thrilled that John Boozman gets to be the next Senator from Wal-Mart Arkansas, I can honestly say that I am not the least bit sad to see Blanche Lincoln go away. Good riddance.