You can certainly hang responsibility for the vote around the Dem’s neck. Reid could have had the debate and vote if he permitted a vote on the Gregg amendment, which was designed by Republicans to force an embarrassing vote on Dems.

Dems outmaneuvered the Reps on public perception of the debate, and got the upper P.R. hand. There was no reason for Reid to fold that hand.

Either party could have yielded political posturing to get the debate and the vote. But the Dems were winning, so there was no reason for them to do so.

As a result the Reps were and are painted in the press as obstructing an embarassing vote for the President. Game over.

But no vote and no debate, so we all lose this round.

I think Warner, Hagel, and the “gang of 7″ sincerely wanted to get to a 60 plurality on a resolution. Even if they all voted for cloture, they did not have enough Republicans. So they threw the dice, backed off when asked, played ball to get a few more votes and put it on the leader’s plate to get it done. Essentially saying – “we’ll stay in line for this vote, on the expectation that you are going to work it out.” The leadership let them down, they are pissed, and there is no tether anymore. They are “open loop” from this point and no longer manageable by the leadership of either party. Should be fun to watch.

Anyway – the most interesting bit was the exchange between Lieberman, Hagel and Warner on Monday about “non-binding resolutions”. My youtube take on it here.