Once again, the Democratic National Committee has proven unable to organize its members to uphold traditional party values. This time the DNC couldn't even garner support for bedrock American values.

No fewer than twelve Democratic senators voted in favor of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (S.3930). This unconstitutional piece of legislation paves the way for even greater abuses of the rights of detainees in U.S. custody.

The last time I wrote a blog like this there was a misunderstanding. I'm not saying that because the DNC has failed to show some backbone that I believe people should support Republicans or their policies. Not even close. Also, I'm not saying that politicians always need to vote in partisan blocks.

What I'm saying is that political parties have traditional values with which they are associated. The Democratic Party has been associated with defending civil rights. By supporting this bill, the Democrats are abandoning this fundamental party principle. They're making potentially grievous civil rights violations more likely.

The DNC should have been able to organize opposition to this law within the party. It didn't. For this reason, the DNC should be reprimanded. Instead of money, send them a letter explaining that the DNC needs to make sure Democrats behave like Democrats on critical issues. However, I strongly believe people should still support individual politicians who defend actual Democratic values.

Below is a list of the twelve Democratic senators who abandoned their party's values. The senators with a "*" next to their names are repeat offenders from my blog on the "flag desecration amendment".

• Thomas Carper (D-DE)
• Tim Johnson* (D-SD)
• Mary Landrieu* (D-LA)
• Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
• Joe Lieberman (D-CT)
• Robert Menendez* (D-NJ)
• Bill Nelson* (D-FL)
• E. Benjamin Nelson* (D-NE)
• Mark Pryor (D-AR)
• John Rockefeller* (D-WV)
• Ken Salazar* (D-CO)
• Debbie Stabenow* (D-MI)

Once again, a few Republicans showed that being a true American is more important than being a political puppet.

• Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) voted "nay"
• Olympia Snowe (R-ME) didn't vote, which is better than "yea"

Lincoln Chafee also opposed the flag desecration amendment.

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