Arguments, accusations and observations, during and after the amnesty bill debate:

“Americans feel that they are losing their country … to a government that has seemed to not have the competence or the ability to carry out the things that it says it will do,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
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Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole, R-N.C., said many Americans “don’t have confidence” that borders, especially with Mexico, will be significantly tightened. “It’s not just promises but proof that the American people want,” Dole said.
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Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called the vote “a victory for fear-mongering and obstruction over a bipartisan commitment to fix our broken immigration system.”
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Calling up images of Nazi Germany, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) chastised opponents for clinging to the idea that America could simply track down and deport more than 12 million illegal immigrants. “America deserves better,” he said.
“Year after year, we’ve had the broken borders,” said Kennedy. “Year after year, we’ve seen the exploitation of workers.”
After the vote, he said: “It is now clear that we are not going to complete our work on immigration reform. That is enormously disappointing for Congress and for the country.”
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Sen. Lindsay Graham, a North Carolina Republican who has been a favorite target of the bill’s opponents for his part in writing it, warned his GOP colleagues that today’s vote would be their only chance to get what they wanted out of an immigration bill. Saying Democrats would not go away and would never allow a bill that only includes a fence, Graham told Republicans to “remember this day if you vote no. You will never have this day again…. This is as good as it is going to get.”
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Cecilia Munoz, member of the national council of La Raza, an Hispanic political organization, said the Senate action left the country with no response to the immigration problem.
“That’s not acceptable … we’ll be back. It’s a question of how long,” she said.
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“Even if you disagree with this bill, don’t end this debate,” said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), who urged his colleagues to reject “these voices of exclusion” opposing the measure and not “say we are surrendering to these negative voices across America.”
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“Our analysis of it was it would not work,” said GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama. “Our analysis was that it would result in 8.7 million more people in the next 20 years here illegally.
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“What part of ‘no’ don’t we understand?,” asked Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who said the immigration fight had “reengaged the American people.”
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Another Republican opponent of the bill, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, said the vote sent a crystal clear message “that the American people want us to start with enforcement, both at the border and at the workplace, and don’t want promises. They want action, they want results, they want proof, because they’ve heard all the promises before.”
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“A big amnesty with inadequate enforcement will cause the problem to grow, not diminish,” said d Vitter, who alongside Sessions led the procedural objections to the bill. Vitter said the vote would reveal whether the Senate as a body was “arrogant” and “out of touch.”
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Democratic Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid said the defeat is “not a time for pointing fingers. It’s not a time for casting blame. It’s a time for recognition that immigration is a problem that needs to be fixed.”
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And Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, said opponents should forget about waiting for a bill that will make illegal aliens go home.
“Amnesty like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, but these 12 million are going to be here whether we legislate or not,” Mr. Specter said.

FROM YES TO NO

Here are the 18 senators who switched their votes between Tuesday and Thursday on the immigration bill:

• Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico
• Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Missouri
• Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
• Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas
• Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina
• Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota
• Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
• Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico
• Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada
• Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky
• Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
• Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Arkansas
• Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska
• Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio
• Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia
• Sen. James Webb, D-Virginia

Even Rockefeller Republican John Warner couldn’t stomach this in the end.