Cloture

Bloomberg:

Seven Republicans joined 38 Democrats in voting to limit debate [on the immigration bill] and move toward final passage. Those voting to allow unlimited debate included 38 Republicans, 11 Democrats and Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent.

The last time I checked, voting against a cloture motion wasn't "voting to allow unlimited debate," it was not voting to conclude the debate at this time. Indeed, the terms of the rule itself are plain ("at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure ... pending before the Senate ... [can be] presented to the Senate, [whereupon] the Presiding Officer ... shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate" (emphasis added)), and the very fact that this was the third cloture vote in a day on this bill cuts against Bloomberg's spin. A cloture motion is not "shall we conclude debate now or carry on forever," it's purely "shall we conclude debate now."

Added, 6/10/07: Come to think of it, this isn't the first time liberals have tried to paper over the distinction with a framing that drips with contempt for procedural rules. They tried the other face of the same coin on Sen. Lieberman with regard to the Alito nomination: "Lieberman voted for Alito," howled the nutsroots, notwithstanding that he in fact had voted only for cloture on the debate, and subsequently voted against Alito. Paging the SF "don't let the facts get in the way" desk!