Fictional -- Ugly Betty has potential. As suggested by a few of the things she was already in, America Ferrera is a promising young actress that has the "spunk" thing down (see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). She is someone we can root for while enjoying the pretty stuff surrounding her -- and, if the series does not make things too watery, the soap opera / clash of cultures can be fun overall. Not much of a taste of the other characters, but there is some bitchy potential. Something to check on again.
Reality -- ugly as well. The Senate passed the thing: 65-34 (Snowe not voting). All Republicans but one (Chafee) voted in favor. Democrats voting in favor included Carper, Johnson, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Menendez, Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar and Stabenow. This is the mixture of likely suspects and those (including the likes of Stabenow, who I thought a bit more of ... but then Sherrod Brown voted for it too) running this fall. Actually, so is Snowe, so her "now you see me, now you don't" (someone saw her on the floor) routine is expected. As you can see, Specter (who thought habeas was soooo fundamental) and all the rest of the "reasonable" Republicans voted for it.
As noted, the House vote is comparable. I talk about the whole thing here, but the point about the Democrats hold: grow a f-ing spine! Once you submit to yet ANOTHER election motivated rush off the cliff, do you really think you can really be saved even if you win? This sentiment rings truer than many might like:
Democratic Party that has already ceded the principle that "our security depends on hiding people away and torturing them" will take power. That party will not have the self-confidence or ambition to spend political capital undoing what it allowed this week to be done. That party will be able to provide a nice living for its officials, do a tidy business in fundraising and maybe push marginal tax rates up a point or raise the gas mileage requirements on new cars - in a country whose official policy is that "our security depends on hiding people away and torturing them." It will not be a party that opposes anything worth opposing. It will not be a party that can sustain majority support for an alternate philosophy of governance. In important ways it will hardly even count as a second party. And that’s the pleasant scenario.
The fact some, from Sen. Reid down, voiced some nice thoughts against it and in support of American values is nice and all. But, the Democrats could not even muster forty votes to stage a filibuster. Some now will go back and campaign. They have a shot to win in November.
But, we lost. We need people who have vision. These people think so small. It's sad really.