Democrats may have found their backbones

That's right folks, the Democrats might have actually found the strength and finally stood up to the lunacy of the GOP. Rachel Maddow reported on Thursday night that Democrats forced an up or down vote on unemployment insurance, putting into the public record who voted which way. Because of this procedure, a two thirds majority was needed to pass, and almost all the Republicans voted against it and so the bill failed to pass. But now those GOP House members along with a few Democrats who voted against are out in the open as being against the unemployed. The Democrats have proved that aren't afraid to tell the other side to put up or shut up. That act showed that this will be a very productive lame duck session as the Democrats plan to use the time they have left to push through the remaining pieces of their agenda this year before the new Congress comes into power. That means Don't Ask Don't Tell could finally be repealed and the House Democrats have assured us that the issue of the Bush tax cuts will be debated.
The Democrats wouldn't have needed this push had the old Lions of the Senate, Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy, been around or if Vice President Biden would become more like Lyndon Johnson and do some arm twisting in the Senate. But I digress as this is a different time and place now. The main point is, the Democrats are going to get work done, and they're going to do it now. This is good news for all us out there. Like Dr. Maddow said:
"Signs of spinefulness are forcing the other party to take a public stand on things that put them at odds with public opinion, forcing the other party to take a public stand on things that put them at odds with how that party wants to be perceived, and not letting the other party stretch things out forever to give themselves time to turn popular ideas like insurance reform or nuke treaties with Russia into unpopular things by sheer dent of how long they're getting battered around in Washington.
It is a sign of spinefulness to run the calendar, to frame the debate, to decide things on your own timeline, to make your opponents own up for their unpopular positions. All of these things in evidence in Washington today -- Democratic spinefulness has broken out. Everybody panic." The Maddow Blog