Politics was trending on Twitter recently during the filibuster of Kansas senator Rand Paul. The outspoken Republican/ Libertarian Senator spoke for thirteen hours to block the nomination of John Brennan to director of the CIA. Why would he spend thirteen hours speaking, with only a Milky Way bar to eat? He took the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration’s use of drones, especially the possibility that they would be brought to the United States to hunt down and kill American citizens.

One thing that confused many people, including Paul, was Obama’s stance on the issue.   The president has been an advocate of drone use overseas, getting much press for using them in countries such as Pakistan, a country we are not at war with. After the filibuster many people took note that Paul said:   “I think it’s also safe to say that the Barack Obama of 2007 would be right down here with me arguing against this drone-strike program if he were in the Senate.”  Only one Democrat decided to “stand with Rand” during the filibuster, yet many Republicans, who are generally in favor of capital punishment and strong national defense, supported him. Groups like Amnesty International that support human rights were happy to see politicians speak out against the use of drones. Yet this is an organization that constantly criticizes Republicans.

Arianna Huffington, editor of the left-leaning online newspaper The Huffington Post, not only asked where was the Obama of 2007, but where were the Democrats of 2007? The party that is usually the champion of human rights issues was strangely silent during the fight for human rights on U.S. soil, an issue they should have been in favor of.

This leads to a disturbing question. Do party politics really matter so much that the Democratic senators wouldn’t stand up with a Republican to fight for an issue they both believe in? Can they not temporarily put their different opinions on healthcare and gun control aside and both fight to protect the rights the Constitution guarantees to the right of a trial? Why wouldn’t Democrats who oppose the death penalty support a fight to make sure that American citizens aren’t assassinated on U.S. soil for crimes they may or may not have committed?

Many people jumped to the twittersphere to tweet that they #standwithrand, but why didn’t the Democrats of the Senate? Time will only tell who will decide to #standwithrand on the drone issue, but one thing is sure. For thirteen hours in Washington, the Democratic senators would not stand with a Republican who was fighting for what they claim to believe.