So much for “comity.” And “getting things done.”

Vote fails 56-42. 3 Dems sided with GOP: – Landrieu, Nelson, Pryor.

656pm. Sen. Harry Reid on the floor: “We’re not here to filibuster Bolton, we’re here to get information.”

658pm Frist: It certainly sounds like a filibuster. It quacks like a filibuster.
It does disappoint me…We are going to come back to this issue…but I think what America has just seen is an engagement of another period of obstruction by the other side…once again, another filibuster…

700pm. Reid: We need to work together and we’re going to work together, but how can we work together when we don’t have information…

The Political Teen has the video: Watch and weep. Or curse.

Blogs for Bush liveblogged the vote.

***
First reports:

CNN…

After hours of heated exchanges over President Bush’s nominee for the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a Senate vote to cut off debate on John Bolton failed late Thursday.

The cloture vote would have paved the way for a final Senate vote on the controversial nominee. Republicans needed 60 votes to cut off the debate, and the vote was 56-42. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has said he wants a vote on the nomination to occur before the Memorial Day holiday. After cloture, Bolton would need a simple majority to be confirmed by the Senate, which has 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one independent.

The debate on Bolton’s nomination will now likely resume next month after senators return from their weeklong holiday break.

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