We’re not done yet. FireDogLake has a petition to pressure the House to stand firm behind the RESTORE act.
Dear Virginia,
What is wrong with our Senate leadership?
Three times now, DFA members like you and me have made phone calls demanding Senators stand up to the Bush administration and pass a FISA bill without granting immunity to telecommunication companies who spied on innocent Americans.
Each time, Washington insiders predicted that we would fail to stop it. And because of you, each time the insiders were wrong.
But President Bush is determined to get telecom immunity passed before he leaves office because he knows the lawsuits against AT&T and Verizon are America's last chance to hold the Bush administration accountable for spying on you. He's even promised to veto any FISA reform bill that doesn't let his cronies off the hook.
How many Americans will die in Iraq while the Senate spends another worthless day fighting over a flawed bill that only the President and his friends want passed? How many children will continue to go without health insurance because the Senate is too busy helping AT&T instead of fighting to expand S-CHIP or provide health care for all?
Why is a "get out of jail free" card for Verizon more important than stopping global warming?
It's time to take FISA reform off the table until America elects a new President next November. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could end this once and for all -- today.
Call Senator Reid right now and demand: No new FISA reforms while President Bush is still in office.
Democratic Majority Leader
Senator Harry Reid
(202) 224-3542Suggested Script:
"Take telecom immunity off the table. Pull the FISA reform bill and extend current law until President Bush leaves office. The U.S. Senate has more important work to get done than figure out how to let AT&T get away with spying on Americans."Please report your call here:
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/reportfisacallsWait! Don't stop there. Contact your senators too! They need to know where you stand. Senator Reid is more likely to stand strong if your senator stands with him. Please call your senators now:
Senate Switchboard
(202) 224-3121Don't forget to report how your calls went here:
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/reportfisacallsWashington insiders say we can't stop this bill. Maybe they are right, but we've heard it before. Let's see what they are saying after you and I and our progressive community make thousands of calls today.
We will stand up to President Bush today. Together, we'll demand the Senate follows our lead.
Voting with the Republicans were the following eighteen Democrats (again, rough count):
Bayh, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Stabenow, Feinstein, Kohl, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Carper, Mikulski, Conrad, Webb, and Lincoln. Joe Lieberman also voted against stripping retroactive immunity.
Nays TRAITORS TO THE US CONSTITUTION
Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feinstein (D-CA) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO)
Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS)
American readers, if your senator is on this list, would you please let them know how you intend to vote when they are up for re-election? Thank you.
Senate Protects Telecom Immunity in Spy Bill
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Tuesday, February 12, 2008; 2:53 PM
The Senate voted today to preserve retroactive immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that cooperated with a government eavesdropping program, decisively rejecting an amendment that would have stripped the provision from a bill to modernize an electronic surveillance law.
Senators voted 67 to 31 to shelve the amendment offered by Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). A filibuster-proof 60 votes had been needed for the amendment to move forward.
The vote represented a victory for the Bush administration and a number of telecommunications companies -- including AT&T and Sprint Nextel -- that face dozens of lawsuits from customers seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Approval of the amendment would have exposed the companies to privacy lawsuits for helping the administration monitor the calls of suspected terrorists without warrants from a special court following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The amendment was one of a series the Senate is considering today to modify legislation that would extend the government's authority to carry out electronic surveillance against targets outside the United States.
President Bush has called on Congress to rapidly renew the surveillance authority granted to the federal government in the Protect America Act approved last year. But he has vowed to veto any bill that does not shield the companies that helped the government carry out the warrantless wiretapping program he ordered after the Sept. 11 attacks.
About 40 lawsuits have been filed against U.S. telecommunications companies by plaintiffs who alleged that the firms' actions violated wiretapping and privacy laws.
Immunity from such lawsuits must also be approved by the House, which does not provide such protection in its version of the bill.
The Senate bill is aimed at modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The Protect America Act last year gave the government expanded authority to carry out surveillance, but its provisions expired Feb. 1. Congress and Bush agreed to an extension that runs out Friday.
In debate on the Senate floor before the vote, Dodd said it was a bad precedent to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies, and he urged senators to "allow the courts to do their job."
Arguing against the amendment, Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) said that permitting lawsuits against the companies would lead to public disclosure of vital intelligence-gathering methods and would discourage the private sector from cooperating with the government in the future. He said the companies facing lawsuits had acted "in good faith," and he called the immunity provision "an essential part of this bill."
Seventeen Democrats and one independent joined 49 Republicans in voting against the Dodd-Feingold amendment. Among those voting with the majority was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who is battling for the Democratic nomination, voted in favor of the amendment. His chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), did not vote.
Civil liberties groups denounced the Senate's action.
"When companies break the law, they should be held accountable by our government -- not given a multimillion-dollar favor," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office. "The millions of Americans who are telecom customers deserve to know that their phone conversations are private."
In a statement, she charged that telecommunications companies "illegally turned over private customer call information to the government." But instead of "having faith in the U.S. court system to fairly handle these cases," she said, the Senate opted to "give the telecom providers a get-out-of-jail-free card."
The Senate today also rejected two other amendments aimed at diluting the immunity provision. One would have allowed the lawsuits to go forward but would have made the federal government--not the telecommunications companies--the defendant in those cases. The measure, co-sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), was rejected 68 to 30.
The other rejected amendment, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would have authorized the secret FISA court, which oversees federal surveillance of foreign intelligence and terrorism suspects inside the United States, to decide whether a company could be sued for providing customers' records to the government.
It was defeated by a vote of 57 to 41.
Kathy's US Politics Blog
Should Congress Provide Blanket Immunity For Wiretaps?
| Current Results | |
If you believe in the Constitution ... if you believe that White House actions require more than "make it so" commands to be judged legal under the Constitution ... then you need to contact your US Representative. Now. (Note: most of the readers of USP oppose telecom immunity -- see the poll.)
Political expediency is the name of the day; President Bush threatens to veto any FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) legislation that does not contain immunity for telecommunications firms that performed warantless wiretaps at Administration behest.
So Democrats in the Senate capitulate: today 18 Democrats joined the 49 Senate Republicans to keep the telecom immunity provision in FISA . Who were they? Bayh, Carper, Conrad, Feinstein, Inouye, Johnson, Kohl, Landrieu, Lincoln, McCaskill, Mikulski, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Stabenow and Webb. Clinton did not vote; Obama voted against amnesty. (See details on 12 key senators.)
Coupled with last week's admission by the Department of Justice that there will be no investigation of the waterboarding of Gitmo prisoners because the DOJ had ruled the practice "legal" at the time, Americans who believe in the rule of law should be up in arms. Glenn Greenwald details the damage:
The Senate today -- led by Jay Rockefeller, enabled by Harry Reid, and with the active support of at least 12 (and probably more) Democrats, in conjunction with an as-always lockstep GOP caucus -- will vote to legalize warrantless spying on the telephone calls and emails of Americans, and will also provide full retroactive amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms, thus forever putting an end to any efforts to investigate and obtain a judicial ruling regarding the Bush administration's years-long illegal spying programs aimed at Americans...
[...]
Analogously, in 1973, The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for its work in uncovering the Watergate abuses, and that led to what would have been the imminent bipartisan impeachment of the President until he was forced to resign in disgrace. By stark and depressing contrast, in 2006, Jim Risen, Eric Lichtblau and the NYT won Pulitzer Prizes for their work in uncovering illegal spying on Americans at the highest levels of the Government, and that led to bipartisan legislation to legalize the illegal spying programs and provide full-scale retroactive amnesty for the lawbreakers. That's the difference between a country operating under the rule of law and one that is governed by lawlessness and lawbreaking license for the politically powerful and well-connected.
From Frank Church and the bipartisan oversight protections of the post-Watergate abuses in the mid-1970s to Jay Rockefeller, Dick Cheney, legalized warrantless eavesdropping and retroactive telecom amnesty in 2008 -- that vivid collapse into the sewer illustrates as potently as anything could what has happened to this country over the last eight years.
Reminder: Rockefeller has three telecoms in his top 10 political campaign donors: AT&T Inc, #2; Time Warner, #5; Verizon, #7.
Related: What is cloture? ; What is FISA? ; What is the RESTORE Act? ; What is the wiretapping issue? ; What happened in August to make warrantless wiretaps temporarily legal? ; FISA Reports to Congress, 1979-2006 ; Getting To Know Your Government: The Senate
What can you do?
IF the House holds firm on its original version of the bill (ie, rejects the Senate version), then the matter is punted to a conference committee. That, in and of itself, does not guarantee that the immunity provision will be deleted from the final bill, however.
Firedog Lake and Glenn Greenwald have started an online petition, asking the House to stick to its guns and its own FISA reauthorization bill, called the RESTORE Act.
By all means, sign the petition. But don't stop there.
Pick up the phone and contact your Representative. Phone calls "count more" than faxes which "count more" than emails which "count more" than online petitions. Think about it -- there is a time and resource cost associated with the phone call. If calling's not an option, then FedX a letter. (I've called mine -- will you call yours?)
This is far more critical (Clinton advisers, listen up) than electioneering.
Also, see
who ARE these people???
how disappointing…Comment by katy —
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If they did nothing wrong…
then why do they need immunity?If they did something wrong…
why is it not being investigated?Comment by Art
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31-67? Wow. That’s a lot of votes against democratic governance and the rule of law.
Comment by toasterhead —
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You get the feeling that Congress really doesn’t want to plumb the depths of what exactly this administration has done so that years from now, historians won’t be wondering (even more so than they probably will be) why Bush got off without being impeached.
Comment by raynman —
Feinstein is hopelessly corrupt. -
Thankfully, she’s RETIRING. Time to go home and count your war bucks w/ yer hubby, DiFi?
Voting with the Republicans were the following eighteen Democrats (again, rough count): -
Bayh, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Stabenow, Feinstein, Kohl, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Carper, Mikulski, Conrad, Webb, and Lincoln. Joe Lieberman also voted against stripping retroactive immunity.
who ARE these people???
how disappointing…Comment by katy — February 12, 2008 @ 11:45 am
These are a bunch of Dems who deserve to be replaced with better Dems. Remember this day come the next set of primaries for these bozos.
Comment by McE —
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I’m so done with Webb. What a disappointment.
Comment by Zooey —
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Mukasy’s son or son in law is directly involved with Verizon and Verizon is one who opened their info to bush. T-Mobil has stood firm about not letting the government in, in case anyone is interested. So, don’t expect Mukasy to stand up against bush, he has favors needed too.
Comment by texaslady
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I’m so done with Webb. What a disappointment.
Comment by Zooey — February 12, 2008 @ 11:50 am
I’d really like to know his reasons for this vote. I’m very disappointed in my junior Senator right now.
Comment by toasterhead
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Everyone should vote out all the Dems who voted with the Repugs on this travesty. Vote for a Green or other third party candidate.
Comment by Uncle Ho
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I agree Webb’s vote is a big disappointment, he was the only one to not line up to kiss bush hand.
Comment by texaslady
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This confirms my theory that they have something on everyone, everyone but Feingold. I used to say Webb and Feingold, but they obviously got something on Jimmy boy.
Thanks for the sellout, dude. And the point of all your previous efforts was…what exactly?
ARGH!
Comment by Ms_Joanne
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texaslady - are you sure about t-mobile?
i thought it was another, which i’m forgetting…
QUEST?Comment by katy —
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Very disappointed in the Dems that voted against this. I was surprised to see Webb’s name on the list of crossovers. I wonder what his reasoning is.
Senator Webb is looking out for his corporate constituency. The Verizon Business (previously Worldcom MCI) HQ is in Ashburn, VA. AT&T has a large government solutions group in Northern VA.
It’s like those wise men at the Constitutional Congress said…
We the Elected Representatives of the United States, in Order to protect a corporate, capitalist based Union, disregard Justice, insure domestic instability, provide for the Wealthiest at the Poor’s expense, promote middle and lower class warfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty only to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of Corporate America.
Comment by Johnnie.Flea
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yea, but really - how BAD could whatever “they have” on these
people BE??? … to abandon the CONSTITUTION???i really don’t get it…
Comment by katy
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Isn’t Webb’s son on active duty in Iraq? I think this may be a factor as to why he has seemed to quietly capitulate to Bush after showing some initial spark leading up to his election…his son could be “re-assigned” to perpetual IED patrol…I could be way off though, I’m not even sure what branch his son is in.
Comment by Tweedster
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Katy, it was Qwest that lost billions in contracts because they wouldn’t play ball with this admin.
How bad? Imagine your deepest darkest secret being spread around the bought and paid for MSM. How bad indeed?
Watergate was childs play. Do you think WE are the only Americans being listened in on? I would guarantee they have something on everyone and since all our elected officials fear losing their golden goose, we’re never going to know until someone, upon near death, writes their tell all.
Comment by Ms_Joanne
I wonder if this whole retroactive immunity thing is to simply cover up even more years of eavesdropping. It certainly doesn’t makes sense to justify this as a product of 9/11, since we “know” the program started before that. The question is, how long exactly has this been going on? -
Comment by Tweedster
It’s really sad that you can’t even count on Dems doing the right thing, thank goodness my reps and senators voted the right way. -
Washington 67% Obama 32% Hillary 1% Undecided
We have thinking people here, not sheeple. (well not so much with the repukes, they can’t think for themselves)
Buck Fush
Comment by Buckie Boy
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19
I’m sure that this administration, aided and abetted by the telecoms, has huge dossiers on everyone in Washington. Being blackmailed into taking impeachment off the table doesn’t seem at all far-fetched coming from Bushco.
Comment by Tweedster
T-Mobil (my fav) was listed as one who refused to cooperate in U.S. Today paper last week. Of course, upon my calling and asking, no one could comment. -
Tweedster - Webb’s son was on active duty when Webb ran for election, and I thought it was army. I would like to know where McCain’s son is stationed, I know he went before Christmas.
Comment by texaslady
his son could be “re-assigned” to perpetual IED patrol -
Comment by Tweedster
I believe you have struck upon something there Tweedster, these criminals will threaten anyone to get their way.
Buck Fush
Comment by Buckie Boy
well, then good on T-mobile, another one… -
Comment by katy
The immunity issue is a red herring - the entire bill is de facto repeal of the Fourth Amendment - Warrantless wiretaps, without Probable Cause. I just don’t understand why Congress thinks they have the authority to amend the Constitution via a bill - this requires States’ input. -
To paraphrase; “Where do I go to get my rights back?”
Comment by judyinnm —
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Katy, Agreed on TMobile.
Comment by Ms_Joanne — February 12, 2008
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Everyone should vote out all the Dems who voted with the Repugs on this travesty. Vote for a Green or other third party candidate.
Comment by Uncle Ho
Now there’s a plan. Get all 150 TPers, the 10 at the Zoo and the 1000 from the DUmp plus the entire ERR America and Olbermann audience and what do you have? A bug splat on a windshield, zip, zero nada.Do you fools get the feeling that nobody except me is even reading this crap?
Good luck and good night.
Comment by Gin
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2
I mean, doesn’t it seem odd that after the whole “Webb snubs Bush” tiff at the elects introductions, which if I can recall had Bush asking Webb how his “boy” was doing **smirk, smirk, chuckle** that Webb seemed a lot less out-spoken?
Comment by Tweedster
Thanks, Gin…spoken like a true 26%er! -
Comment by Ms_Joanne
Do you fools get the feeling that nobody except me is even reading this crap? -
Oh, BTW, Obama voted Aye, and Clinton wasn’t present. Priorities, you know…
Comment by RUCerious —
Has anyone heard how the Tillman episode has been resolved? Until that happened I would not have thought Webb’s son could be used, now I am a believer. Tillman had major issues he was going to discuss regarding Afganistan and everything surrounding his death was destroyed instead being kept for forensic evidence. -
Comment by texaslady —.
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ARE THE SHEEP THAT AFRAID OF THE WOLF?
SINCE WHEN IS WARRANTLESS CONSTITUTIONALLY LEGAL?
.
Comment by Max-1 -
I can understand Carper and Bayh and some others since they are from very RED states, also comrades of the DLC.
Lately Feinstein has also been voting with the DLC crowd.
Remember, Hillary Clinton is a vice-president of the DLC.
These people talk progressive in front of the camera, but vote to the center.Comment by batbird
I just called up Senator Salazar’s office and expressed my distaste for his vote, as well as sending an e-mail to his office. I’m not going to bother with Allard. That scumbag loves the taste of Bush’s boots. -
Comment by Jeremy in Denver
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Hutchinson and Cornyn are long time boot lickers my letter or call would be immediately round filed. Hutchinson looked to be on valium last interview, she is writting a book you know.
Comment by texaslady
COWARDS. -
REID & PELOSI are NOT qualified for their positions. They are leaders FOR BUSH NOT the American People
They NEED to GO ASAP!
Comment by phred42 —
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The difference between the 2 parties is what again…?
Comment by americangoy —
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Wow, tell a little truth and the whole site crashes for a while.
Comment by Gin
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Screw all you chickenshits and the garbage GOP/Chimpy leg humpers in the Senate ; you are all as un-American as the Shrub administration claimed we were/are , that opposed his illegal and idiotic Iraq Adventure…………
To vote in favor of retroactive immunity for big business , while trampling on the rights of “We the People” , is an act that will never be forgotten ; remember your behavior and vote come your time to be re-elected……………
Comment by MCMetal
Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) took some time from campaigning for Tuesday’s slate of “Potomac Primaries” in Maryland, Virginia and Washington to swing by the Capitol and vote on the amendments. Obama supported the immunity measure. McCain opposed it. -
Hillary Clinton did not vote on the immunity issue at all, although she was in Washington at least part of the day Tuesday, competing in the same primaries as Obama and McCain.
It is unclear whether Clinton will pay a political price for her absence, especially in light of her campaign’s decision last fall to highlight Obama’s “present” votes when he was an Illinois State Senator. “A president can’t pick and choose which challenges he or she will face,” she said in October.
Comment by Marie
It’s official everyone. Crime pays - forget about college funds, and start buying your kids guns and fake ID’s, and start teaching them evasion, duplicity, and opportunism instead of geometry, history, and literature. -
I’m off to find someone “wealthy” to rob.
Comment by tombaker
They have something on everyone
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they don’t need something on everyone — two words:
“Remember Wellstone”
Comment by rjf7r —
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The democrat party is so weak they make me sick to my stomach. They might as well not have power in Congress. That weak kneed Harry Reid is a wussy and prissy Nancy is a joke. Speak of what? Neither of them have any guts! These are the two weakest democrat leaders in history. I’m as blue as a Democrat as you can get, but they make me want to quit and join the Republicans. Oh, my God, I can’t believe I said that. Let me wash my mouth out with soap. Not because of what I said about Nancy and Harry, but about joining the Nazi Republicans.
Comment by The Shadow
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I hope the Clinton voters in the rest of the primaries are too busy to go vote too…
Comment by banzai26
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rjf7r 1:43 - I think of Wellstone, Wilson, Clark and all that tried to warn the American people.
Comment by texaslady —
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#46 justasking:
I copied and pasted from an article in Raw Story.Comment by Marie — February 12, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
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All of us that were glad the Dems won are sick at heart at the lack of backbone. Don’t give me that it will always be voted down, at least try and make our voice heard, damn it !
Comment by texaslady — February 12, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
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Time to throw the bums out and START investigating them, too!
Comment by Doc Rock
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One can only assume that corporate interests and other ‘forces for the status quo’ have gotten to our leaders, and have them, somehow, in their pockets. Being a Democrat is no guarantee that you’re not bought, obviously. I have no doubt that virtually ALL of the most powerful individuals in this country, especially democratic lawmakers, have their phones illegally tapped by the administration. Who knows what kind of ammunition that gives Bush over them?
Of course that doesn’t mean we should forgive them for letting us down. We NEED them to be willing to sacrifice in order to do the right thing, or this won’t for long remain the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.As for Hillary, the only democrat not voting, I believe it’s because she couldn’t vote yes - giving Obama ammo - and she couldn’t vote no - against the wishes of her biggest backers.
Comment by jeffnbecka@hotmail.com
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The following Dems need to be replaced!
The Dodd/Feingold Amendment 3907 to strip retroactive immunity from the underlying SSCI bill just failed, 31-67. 51 votes were needed to pass.
Voting with the Republicans were the following eighteen Democrats (again, rough count):
Bayh, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Stabenow, Feinstein, Kohl, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Carper, Mikulski, Conrad, Webb, and Lincoln. Joe Lieberman also voted against stripping retroactive immunity.
Comment by TheRadicalRightisRadicallyWrong
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Until we do march in the streets and make our voices and opinions heard, nothing will happen. The Washington Politicians think we are all thrilled with a Stimulas Package of a couple of hundred dollars. Throw us a dollar to spend in Walmart and we will let them sell our country away.
Our elected officials consider the American people dumb, and we are allowing that by not raising our voices to them.Comment by texaslady
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Wikipedia:
Bayh is considered to be a leading candidate for the Vice Presidential spot in 2008, due to his centrist image, his deep roots in the Midwest and wide experience, especially after he endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the presidency.
Comment by justasking
Who are these people representing? I am so disgusted by the continual caving by both sides of the aisle to Bush’s crazy demands. All kinds of conspiracy theories and excused have been floated to support their actions- from these lawbreakers having been blackmailed into supporting him to “We don’t have the votes.” I can’t listen to this anymore. How about this for a conspiracy theory - BOTH sides want to see the end of rule of law, increased power of the president, no accountability. Fill in the rest. The only other conspiracy theory I can float is this one: -
http://www.opednews.com/ maxwrite/ diarypage.php?did=6076
They can’t do anything because COG plans are in place. Can’t verify this, of coure, because it’s all a secret.
Comment by And the beat goes on —
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Wikipedia:
Bayh is considered to be a leading candidate for the Vice Presidential spot in 2008, due to his centrist image, his deep roots in the Midwest and wide experience, especially after he endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the presidency.
Comment by justasking
Because Ms Clinton doesn’t have enough going against her , she needs to compound it with Bayh as her running mate ?Comment by MCMetal
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“Oh, BTW, Obama voted Aye, and Clinton wasn’t present. Priorities, you know…”
Comment by RUCerious — February 12, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
True but isn’t Claire McKatkill part of his Campaign? What the Phuck is wrong with her?
This is the saddest day I can recall in my lifetime of political involvement. Every democrat that oppossed this needs to go. I hang my head in shame…
Comment by TheRadicalRightisRadicallyWrong
“I just called up Senator Salazar’s office and expressed my distaste for his vote, as well as sending an e-mail to his office. I’m not going to bother with Allard. That scumbag loves the taste of Bush’s boots.” -
Comment by Jeremy in Denver
Good for you! I Just called Specter’s office expressing my extreme disapointment in his vote and told his aide, “I hope he’s planning on retiring this year!”
-
Yeah, I don’t understand McCaskill vote.
With the primaries coming up I don’t understand Webb’s nor Inouye’s.
Inouye has always been strange. But with both maybe it had something to do with their military background.Comment by justasking
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As for Hillary, the only democrat not voting, I believe it’s because she couldn’t vote yes - giving Obama ammo - and she couldn’t vote no - against the wishes of her biggest backers.
Comment by jeffnbecka@hotmail.comhow would a “yes” give obama ammo? i would think it would be
a great show of unity…her absence is a big disappointment… at the least…
…i think rjf7r @ 1:43 pm may have gotten it as far as “first on the list” of the many reasons the dems cave:
“Remember Wellstone”
Comment by katy
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They have just handed Bush and Cheney their “get out of jail free card”. The whole issue of illegal spying on Americans is now dead. The courts will interpret the will of Congress as granting retroactive immunity to the actions of the White House (an ironic name, under our present circumstances!) as well. We can’t even pretend we have a democracy any longer. People: note those Senators and vote their sorry little asses out of office! It’s the patriotic thing to do.
Comment by NCBlueneck
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Could it be that the Dems want a continuation of Bush agenda so the public will be so sick of this administration, it will be a shoo in for the Dems take over ? If so, they are as bad as bush allowing the lives of our military to be wasted for the next 12 months, the Constituition sacrificed, the rule of law? What a sick bunch if this is only half true. Why else not even an Impeachment debate in the House?
Comment by texaslady
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2008/ 02/ 12/ senate-oks-immunity-for-t_n_86236.htmlFull “The telecom immunity must still be approved by the House; its version of the surveillance bill does not provide immunity.
The House approved its own update last fall. If the Senate passes its bill, differences between the two versions remain to be worked out, approved by both houses, and delivered to the president for his signature.”
I guess the Feb. 15 expiration put pressure on the Senate for the whole FISSA bill. But the updated version is not a bill…yet.
Comment by justasking
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Welcome to the United States of Soviet Repression. Hope you young people enjoy your brave new world.
Comment by Namtillaku
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Bush issued a signing statement to a law he just signed, which among other things will protect Halliburton and others from investigation into fraud against our military.
How many signing statements is that now ? Covering his ass as always.Comment by texaslady
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*FISA
Comment by justasking
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Because Ms Clinton doesn’t have enough going against her , she needs to compound it with Bayh as her running mate ?
Comment by MCMetal — February 12, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
yes…And now this from our local sponsors.
“The racial components of the 2008 Democratic Primary refuse to go away. On Tuesday, Gov. Ed Rendell, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that he believed some Pennsylvania voters would not support Barack Obama simply because of his race.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2008/ 02/ 12/ rendell-some-whites-won_n_86246.html
Comment by justasking
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Isn’t “retroactive immunity” a fancy way to say “ex post facto law” which is expressly forbidden by the constitution?
Comment by Alejandro
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Good point.
Comment by justasking —
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via C&L:
We’re not done yet. FireDogLake has a petition to pressure the House to stand firm behind the RESTORE act.
Thank God. I was worried accountability might be an option.
Very disappointed in the Dems that voted against this. I was surprised to see Webb’s name on the list of crossovers. I wonder what his reasoning is.