Pointless Obstructionism: 6 GOP Senators Vote For Bill They Just Filibustered

On Monday, the Senate broke a Republican-led filibuster on the Democratic jobs bill by a vote of 62-30. Only five Republicans, including former conservative darling Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), supported allowing an up-or-down vote on the measure.  But this morning, when the final vote took place, the bill somehow attracted eight more Republican supporters:

The Senate easily passed a $15 billion jobs bill on Wednesday morning amid hope that the measure could provide a blueprint for other items on President Obama's agenda.

The measure passed 70 to 28, with 13 Republicans joining 57 Democrats in support of the package. One Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against it.

Of the eight, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Burr (R-NC) were absent on Monday.  However, the remaining six senators actually tried to block the bill, then approved of it when their filibuster failed.  The six vote-flippers are:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

It would be fascinating to hear these eight Republican senators explain why a bill they supported was not, in fact, worthy of an up-or-down vote -- which is ostensibly the position they've taken.  The alternative is they know the bill is good policy, but tried to stop Democrats from passing it anyway.  As Steve Benen writes, that's "the height of cynical and pointless obstructionism."