One problem that I note with your list of commitments - Jon Corzine is the Governor of New Jersey and so not entitled to make such a commitment. New Jersey's Senators are Lautenberg and Menendez, both of whom I intend to urge to vote for this bill when it becomes necessary.

ian - there may be a problem with your whip count list. jeffords should be sanders... and i think kerry has signed on. not sure about the others... haven't found the bill online yet.

p.s. wrt brown. agreed, he's been a disappointment.

I've removed the whip list, since it clearly wasn't as accurate as it should be. Nonetheless Brown is clearly not on at as of the writing, that I have confirmed.

and thus i've been unsurprised by his disappointing behavior. brown isn't a progressive leader, that's not possible when you endorse torture and an end to habeas c.

OT- i left a response for you, ian, on the "womanism" post at corrente. thanks for the discussion.

As one of those saps that favored Brown over Hackett based on having a history of demonstrated "progressive" tendencies, Brown's vote for the Military Commissions Act (a vote for torture and against the right not to be imprisoned indefinitely without charge - and I believe the act also absolved all in government of any possible war crimes charges - a sweet add on) I felt knifed in the back. Not simply by Brown but by the likes of "progressives" like David Sirota, who touted Brown's history as a steadfast "progressive." Personally I've never been a fan of the term "progressive" seeing it as a run from the demonizing of "liberal" by the conservative marketing machine. A demonizing furthered still by "progressives" like Matt S. and parroted by some.

I think Hackett is beside the point since he was and still is an unknown. At the time Hackett was all over the place on issues basically telling whatever group he was dealing with whatever he felt they wanted to hear. Still I'd like to think that Hackett (given the vote) would not have voted to trash the constitution and open American military personnel to comparable "acceptable" torture. The only possible reason I saw for Brown voting for the MCA was fear of a massive ad campaign against him just prior to the election. But then when someone votes for torture and imprisonment in the face of a possible ad assault their convictions, progressive or otherwise, aren't worth much.

After that MCA vote by Brown David Sirota began to refer to Brown as an "economic populist." I guess the "and social Stalinist" was silent. Because of Sirota's lack of outrage about Brown's anti-American vote I no longer see him (Sirota) as anything other than a political operative ready to spout whatever line his possible money train calls for.

I remember Brown being on Air America shortly after the MCA vote. I think it was with Laura Flanders though it might have been Rachel Maddow. It was evening. I don't remember when Maddow was switched to evening. The show's hostess had just finished a five or so minute segment about the horrors of the MCA. Then Brown was on and was never questioned on his MCA vote but simply allowed to spout tired and meaningless political sound bites (not even worthy of that cliché since they were completely forgettable). But that was before the election so maybe another progressive voice feared the Republican sound bite "soft on terror" political meat grinder.

The MCA vote was a sad fact. The current proposed "get out of Iraq" bill and this straw poll on it mean are far less significant. That is, other than as a reminder of Brown's qualifiers on "populist."