I believe that it’s a well established fact that Senate Republicans are the New York Yankees of douchebaggery: the 2009 World Champions. But sometimes, they find a way to lower the bar further than any of us thought possible. Just such an event occurred on October 6th.

The Franken Amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill seemed simple, straightforward, and uncontrovercial: “none of the funds appropriated…may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor…as a condition of employment…mandates that the employee…resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment”. No federal funds for contractors that deny workers basic civil rights like the right to press charges on a rape or sue for discrimination.

Well, if you thought no one would oppose this…there are 30 people you ought to meet:

Mike Enzi (R-WY), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bob Corker (R-TN), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Thune (R-SD), Lindsey Graham (R-SD), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Richard Burr (R-NC), Judd Gregg (R-NH), John Ensign (R-NV), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Kit Bond (R-MO), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Thad Cochran (R-MS), David Vitter (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John McCain (R-AZ), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Dick Shelby (R-AL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Just a quick demographic breakdown: all Republicans, all men, all white. Nice going. At Demsgiving we should all say a heartfelt word of thanks that these men no longer run the country.

Now, after siding for war-profiteer-mercenary-army corporations and against rape victims, there were two Republicans who felt that it wasn’t yet time to stop digging…

They had the audacity to be upset with Franken for proposing the Amendment in the first-place:

-”Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape — and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing.” – Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

-”I don’t know what his motivation was for taking us on, but I would hope that we won’t see a lot of Daily Kos-inspired amendments in the future coming from him…hopefully he’ll settle down and do kind of the serious work of legislating that’s important to Minnesota.” – Sen. John Thune (R-SD)

Just a closing thought: what does it say about Senate Republicans that only 10 of them had the decency to vote for this amendment?