"In the future I think it will be difficult to explain why this happened, perhaps even more challenging to explain why this key national decision was left in the hands of lame duck senate Republicans. "

It's an easy answer here Josh. Unless we tie them up and stash them in a basement somewhere, the Republicans in the Senate have votes.

On a side note, the New York Times reports "The Senate voted 52 to 35 with 10 Republicans joining 40 Democrats and 2 independents in favor." Where were the other 7 Democrats? This still wouldn't have gotten us to cloture, but it would have been nice to see the Democratic senators united FOR ONCE!