Kudos to Obama for Killing the "Forgery Is O.K. When the Bank Does It Act", but What Were Congressional Dems Thinking?

So it turns out that Obama isn't completely tone deaf. To his credit, he has essentially* vetoed a bill that would have forced courts to recognize out of state foreclosure-related documents. Given the wide-scale fraud in forclosure-related documentation--to the point where it's not clear who actually holds the title or liens for millions of homes--this is a great move, since it will allow courts to hold the lenders and foreclosures accountable.

Of course, if policy makers had adopted cramdown legislation, this issue probably wouldn't have arisen in the first place.

But what I want to know is how Senate Democrats passed this bill on September 27 by a voice vote--not one Democrat, even as fraud was coming to light, did anything to stop it. No holds, no filibuster threats. Hell, they didn't even call for a recorded vote. Where were 'progressive' heartthrobs Bernie Sanders and Al Franken?

I'll chalk some of this up to cluelessness. Most senators have no idea how the foreclosure mess is affecting people: they don't get foreclosed upon, and they don't know those sorts of people. But I have a suspicion that some of the wining and dining might have influenced this too. How could such swell guys (lobbyists) promote bad legislation? They sent me to Boca Raton, after all.

On the other hand, there are a lot of Democrats fighting against the breakdown of the rule of law, and no Republicans doing so. But rank-and-file Democrats, as well as many elected Democratic officials, deserve much better than the Senate Democrats.