I know something about political courage.

I saw colleagues vote for repeal of the death penalty, persuaded by the logic of our argument.

I know something about filibusters.

Every fall, I teach about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Until then, every civil rights bill since Reconstruction had died – killed by a filibuster by Southern Senators.

Last night, it was the same scenario.  A minority killed a civil rights bill.

No Labels describes itself as “a national movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents working to bring our leaders together to solve America’s toughest problems.”

Governor Hogan and former U.S. Senator Lieberman are the organization’s co-chairs.

I’m on the No Labels mailing list.  This afternoon, I opened this email.

In an act of great political courage, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema bucked the White House and the Senate Democratic leadership to protect the filibuster, an essential tool in protecting the rights of the minority party in the chamber and ensuring that major legislative initiatives have bipartisan support.

I responded, “Characterizing Senators Manchin and Sinema’s support of the filibuster and the defeat of urgently needed campaign reform legislation as ‘political courage’ is outrageous and of great harm to the preservation of our democracy.”