Redstate

Posted at 3:05pm on Jul. 9, 2008 They're winding up FISA now in the Senate.

Took 'em long enough.

By Moe Lane

[UPDATE and bump]: Final vote is 69 Ayes, 28 Nays. A look at the final apostate list in a moment, but I'd just like to note something. There were two Senators who were serious Democratic Presidential candidates, and they both voted on FISA. One of them voted against telecom immunity - a matter of extreme importance to the netroots - all the way down the line (and despite the fact that Democrats in Congress have assessed the public mood, and have clearly decided that the bill must be passed). The other voted against it... except for the final vote, which is the only one that the population will actually care about. In other words, we have a case of actual integrity versus equivocation.

The funny part is that the netroots went with the equivocator. Barack Obama brazenly lied to them about his intent to filibuster FISA, and they support him anyway. And now they have to go give him some more money, so that he can lie to them some more. Funny, I don't recall Hillary Clinton being nearly as bad in that regard this election cycle.

Have a nice day.

-------

Senator Bond is finishing up his commentary, and we'll be seeing the start of the process of watching the amendments go down in flames any minute now. (Ooh, he just kicked the netroots!)

While we're all waiting for the inevitable, check out Jake Tapper's piece on the subject. Especially the bits about Obama's flip-flops on FISA.

[UPDATE]: Below is the approved list of Netroots-Acceptable Democratic Ideological Purity. To stay on it, all the Democratic Senators have to do is vote Aye on all three amendments, and Nay on the vote itself. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Akaka Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Brown Byrd Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Clinton Conrad Dodd Dorgan Durbin Feingold Feinstein Harkin Inouye Johnson Kennedy* Kerry Klobuchar Kohl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Lincoln McCaskill Menendez Mikulski Murray Nelson Nelson Obama Pryor Reed Reid Rockefeller Salazar Sanders Schumer Stabenow Tester Webb Whitehouse Wyden

*I think that he may not be present. Which would explain why McCain's not there, either.

On Dodd/Feingold: 32 Ayes, 66 Nays. Embarrassingly bad, that.
On Specter: 37 Ayes, 61 Nays. Not quite as bad. Not quite.
On Bingaman: 42 Ayes, 56 Nays. I guess that I got this wrong: the pro-FISA people clearly didn't need much in the way of cover at all.

...And Reid is recessing, in order to let the GOP go have its (delayed by the Helms funeral) lunch. Isn't he just the best, most biddable Democratic Senate Majority Leader that the GOP could wish for?

[UPDATE] Well, we're back, and I believe that this is the cloture vote (yup, it is). Bit garbled, but I heard 26 Nays; it clearly passed. Final vote - finally, the freaking final vote - coming up next.

Posted in Congress | FISA | Kneel Before Zod | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (136)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:44am on Jul. 8, 2008 Question and answer time: the Senate FISA vote.

I spied something convex?

By Moe Lane

Q. OK, what's going on?
A. Assuming that Jesse Helms' funeral doesn't interfere, FISA passes the Senate today with telecom immunity intact. [UPDATE: The final votes will take place tomorrow, in order to allow Senators to attend Helms' funeral.]

Q. Just like that?
A. Just like that.

Q. Aren't there people in the Senate trying to stop it?
A. Not really, no. There are people in the Senate trying their best to look like they're stopping it, but this was all hashed out last week. What happens tomorrow will be about as spontaneous as Kabuki theater. Or any kind of traditional theater, really.

Read on.

Posted in Barack Obama | Congress | FISA | Obamafiles — Comments (21)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:15pm on Jun. 26, 2008 Hey, thanks, Glenn Greenwald.

Have to say, you anti-FISA folks have been really helpful with doing our oppo research.

By Moe Lane

And you're right, this is spinning:

And yet you're voting for him anyway. He can't even participate in a cloture vote - the last even semi-realistic hope that you had to slow FISA down - and you'll still vote for him. This would be sad, if it wasn't as predictable as tomorrow's sunrise. But enough about my amusement; let's talk about your pain. How does it feel to live with the fact that your (assumed) candidate for President is a moral coward?

I wouldn't know myself, you see: I'm a Republican.

Moe Lane

PS: Just keep going after those Blue Dogs, Glenn. Thanks a bunch.

Posted in Barack Obama | FISA | Kneel Before Zod | Liberals — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:44pm on Jun. 22, 2008 MoveOn.org not ready to: Calls for Obama to Filibuster FISA

As Terry Pratchett once said, it's like watching a wasp land on a nettle. *Something's* getting stung, and you don't care which.

By Moe Lane

For the This Primary Is Made Out Of Awesome files: via the Huffington Post we see that MoveOn.org is absolutely adamant that Senator Obama filibuster the FISA bill this week. How awesome is it?

It's awesome enough that I'm reprinting the whole post after the fold. That's how awesome it is. You see, I want progressives to email the Senator and demand that he filibuster: he'll either not do so, and thus betray them further; or he'll cave to them, which will embarrass the Democratic Party at the very moment that they need to show Unity.

And either way, the FISA bill still passes. That's because the progressives don't have the votes to stop it, even if Harry Reid wasn't owned by Mitch McConnell (who looks increasingly likely to be keeping his seat, after all). As he is... well. This should be entertaining.

Well. At least for people who, you know, matter.

Moe Lane

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | FISA | Lets you and him fight | MoveOn.org — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:32pm on Jun. 21, 2008 *Not* the return of the Security Majority in Congress.

"Return" implies that it ever went away.

By Moe Lane

FiveThirtyEight.com has some numbers up of how the Blue Dogs jumped on FISA. As they note, the final vote was 105 Yea to 128 Nay on the Democratic side, which in itself is instructive of the failure of the progressive netroots to impose their desires on their Party; but among competitive-seat Democrats (31, as per the Cook Political Report*) the ratio was 23 Yea to 8 Nay. A fairly significant difference: and one that suggests that the Democrats have a fairly significant disconnect between rhetoric and reality. But we'll discuss that below.

By the way, those 23 Yea votes were from: Harry Mitchell AZ-5, Gabrielle Giffords AZ-8, Jerry McNerney CA-11, Tim Mahoney FL-16, John Barrow GA-12, Jim Marshall GA-8, Melissa Bean, IL-8, Brad Ellsworth IN-8, Nancy Hoyda KS-2, Dennis Moore KS-3, John Yarmuth KY-3, Don Cazayoux LA-6, Travis Childers MS-1, Kirsten Gillibrand NY-20, Michael Arcuri NY-24, Zack Space OH-18, Chris Carney PA-10, Paul Kanjorski PA-11, Jason Altmire PA-4, Joe Sestak PA-7, Patrick Murphy PA-8, Nick Lampson TX-22, and Ciro Rodriguez TX-23. I mention this because I am given to understand that ActBlue is making it a point to target these individuals (as well as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer), and far be it from me to stand in their way. Go ahead and spend that money, netrooters.

The rest of you, read on.

Posted in Congress | FISA | I was for the war before I was against the war before I was for the war | Kneel Before Zod — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:14pm on Jun. 20, 2008 Obama Retreats on FISA

This Line Can't Be Crossed! [Pause] No, *This* Line!

By Dan McLaughlin

I asked yesterday how Barack Obama, who opposed the FISA bill last time it came around and specifically opposed the telecom immunity provisions, would handle the compromise by which nearly the same bill has now passed the House and will return to the Senate with sufficient votes to pass. You will recall the emphatic nature of Obama's statement in opposition:

I strongly oppose retroactive immunity in the FISA bill.... No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people - not the President of the United States, and not the telecommunications companies that fell in line with his warrantless surveillance program. We have to make clear the lines that cannot be crossed.

Well, anyone who was observing this campaign to find out whether Obama has credibility when he draws that kind of line now has their answer: he folds like a cheap suit:

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | FISA | Great Netroot Betrayal | Kneel Before Zod | Obamafiles — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:44pm on Jun. 20, 2008 Some thoughts for our esteemed visitors regarding the passage of the FISA bill.

And may I offer my condolences for Senator Obama's sudden attack of laryngitis?

By Moe Lane

Good afternoon, our colleagues from the Other Side. As you no doubt know by now, the FISA bill has passed the House (293-129-13), complete with sufficient protections for the telecom industry so as to prevent precisely the sort of discovery expeditions that so many of you have so eagerly dreamed of. The Senate will in due course ratify it; the President will of course sign it; and it will not be repealed, even if "your" party somehow manages to win the Presidential election in November.

But I would like to offer these words of comfort. When you look back on your quest to fight this bill, I want you to appreciate the amazing amount of work that you spent on the issue. You called. You networked. You wrote letters and blog posts. You contributed to opposition groups. You reached out, and found people just like you, and you banded together to fight. And you kept going, and calling, and struggling, and you put your time, your money, and every atom of your being on the line. For some of you, this was your finest moment. You fought for this. You fought so hard for this.

Oddly enough, I didn't do any of that, but I won anyway. That's because you suck, and I don't.

Well, I didn't say that they were words of comfort for you.

Moe Lane

PS: Now go give money to Barack Obama. That's all you're good for, anyway.

Posted in Congress | FISA | I'm Sing-ing in the Rain... | Kneel Before Zod | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (34)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:10pm on Jun. 19, 2008 The FISA Controversy, in tedious Question and Answer form.

I'd call it a Guide for the Perplexed, but I'm not that good.

By Moe Lane

The questions and answers are below the fold (thanks to Dan McLaughlin for a suggestion here and there). We hope that you'll find it useful, particularly if tomorrow afternoon is witness to screams and shrieks of inarticulate fury all along the sinister half of the blogosphere.

Well, here's hoping, at least.

Moe Lane

PS: Yes, thanks, you disagree with [Insert Random Assertion by Moe Lane here]. Glad to hear it. Moving on...

Posted in FISA | Liberals | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:11pm on Jun. 19, 2008 I hope that this is *false* amazement over Obama's FISA betrayal.

Not that I consider it a betrayal, but then, I wouldn't.

By Moe Lane

Glenn Greenwald and Matt Stoller are predictably upset that Senator Barack Obama has chosen to help out pro-FISA compromise and Blue Dog Democrat John Barrow (GA) over anti-FISA compromise and progressive Regina Thomas by cutting an ad for the former. It would be a pity if this was true upset; these two are often touted as being shining lights of the progressive blogosphere, so it'll make us all look bad if either or both turn out to actually only have the cognitive development of a badly-socialized greyhound. After all, it's fairly clear why Senator Obama has made this call: conservative Democrats, particularly Georgian ones, have alternatives.

At this point, progressives don't.

So I suggest that the two of them shut up and get on with the job of writing puff pieces about the Democratic candidate for President, and how you should give him all of your money. That's pretty much the task that's been assigned to them by their betters, and the sooner they learn their place, the sooner that they'll grow accustomed to it.

Moe Lane

PS: You, too, mcjoan.

Posted in FISA | Liberals | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:36am on Jun. 19, 2008 BREAKING: FISA Deal

A Deal, Maybe A Good One. Thank Your GOP Representatives And Senators.

By Dan McLaughlin

Jed Babbin reported the rumors this morning and explained why telecom immunity is a sticking point, and the WSJ is now reporting ($) that in the House, at least, a deal has finally been struck to move a 'compromise' FISA bill. You should read the whole thing; here's how the WSJ describes the telecom immunity provision:

The agreement would also pave the way for [telecom] companies ... to shed the nearly 40 lawsuits they face for allegedly participating in a prior version of the NSA program... To win immunity, they would have to pass review from a U.S. District Court.

...Critical to sealing the deal was a compromise that would grant conditional immunity to telecommunications companies for assistance they provided from September 2001 through January 2007. If the companies can show a federal district court judge "substantial evidence" they received a written request from the attorney general or head of an intelligence agency stating the president authorized the surveillance and determined it to be lawful, the cases against them will be dismissed.

UPDATE: The Politico has the story along with the text of the compromise bill. The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow.

Provisionally, this seems like a win for national security and a win for the GOP, and a defeat for the far Left, the 'netroots,' and the plaintiffs' bar. The bill, if passed, will institutionalize even under an Obama Administration surveillance that has previously been conducted only because President Bush ordered it. On the presidential level, the deal sounds like one that John McCain will happily fall in with, and vindicates his longstanding position that the President, regardless of what he can do, should go to Congress for authority on surveillance. And it puts Barack Obama in a tough spot: if Pelosi and Reid are marshalling their troops behind it (even though they both personally oppose the deal), and he opposes them, he will yet again be shown to be an extremist outside the mainstream of his own party; yet if he supports the deal, he will have flip-flopped on his prior votes against FISA bills that contained telecom immunity.

More below the fold.

Posted in Barack Obama | FISA | John McCain | National Security | Surveillance — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:27pm on Mar. 3, 2008 For your vicious amusement, o my droogies.

Won't be long now!

By Moe Lane

Glenn Greenwald: House Democratic leadership: not just complicit but also self-destructive. "Self-destructive" being defined as "not doing what Greenwald tells them," of course: which is doubly funny, as his faction has been notoriously bad at actually doing anything with their supposed mandate from the American people. But let's look at the most fun bits of this rather bitter article about FISA, shall we?

...Hmm, after the fold. And via Just One Minute, by the way.

Posted in Congress | FISA | Great Netroot Betrayal | Kneel Before Zod — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:59am on Mar. 1, 2008 I'd like "Cynical Betrayal of the Democratic Netroots" for $500, Alex.

What is "The Upcoming FISA Reconciliation?"

By Moe Lane

Took 'em long enough:

To break an impasse over legislation overhauling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, House Democratic leaders are considering the option of taking up a Senate-passed FISA bill in stages, congressional sources said today. Under the plan, the House would vote separately on the first title of the bill, which authorizes surveillance activities, and then on the bill’s second title, which grants retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that aided the Bush administration’s warrantless electronic surveillance activities. The two would be recombined, assuming passage of both titles. In this way, Democratic leaders believe they can give an out to lawmakers opposed to the retroactive immunity provision. Republican leadership sources said their caucus would back such a plan because not only would it give Democratic leaders the out they need, it would provide a political win for the GOP. It remains to be seen if such a move will placate liberal Democrats who adamantly oppose giving in to the Bush administration on the immunity issue.

The link above, by the way, is not to the original, which is behind a subscription wall; it's to an upset Netrooter, albeit one not as upset as s/he will be once this passes. Alternatively, you can read karl of Protein Wisdom, who is just about as amused over this as I am.

No further commentary necessary, except that I really wish that the Democrats would start subordinating their primary fund-raising requirements to their responsibilities as legislators, instead of the other way around. I understand that they don't want to pass FISA with retroactive immunity until after their post-3/5 revenue generation blitz, but if they had just passed this two weeks ago they wouldn't be in this mess. Fourteen days is plenty of time for the netroots to get over a fit of pique.

Posted in Congress | FISA | Great Netroot Betrayal | Kneel Before Zod — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:08pm on Feb. 26, 2008 House Republicans to interrupt housing debate in attempt to re-secure the country [UPDATED]

Some of those darned issues just don't seem to go away!

By Jeff Emanuel

Update 2: Moments ago, the House GOP offered the Senate-passed FISA bill (S. 2248) as their Motion to Recommit H.R. 3521, the Public Housing Asset Management Improvement Act. The chair declared the motion non-germane, and the GOP appealed the ruling.

Update: Democrats have won a battle for America's enemies, voting to uphold the Previous Question on the Protect America Act. Seven Democrats are to be commended for voting with the GOP: Barrow, Bean, Boren, Carney, Cramer, Donnelly, and Lampson.

Within the next half hour, House Republicans will be interrupting the all-important Housing debate to bring up that dreaded and tortuous subject of National Security.

The GOP will use the "previous question" parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the FISA legislation that the Senate passed by a 2/3 margin and sent to the House two weeks ago."

"We will not sit idly by while Democrats bring up bills that have already had numerous floor votes while important legislation is on the table collecting dust," said Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) earlier today.

"Because of the inaction by the Democratic leadership, a crucial provision in our national security laws was allowed to expire earlier this month," he added. "Since then, a dimmer switch has been placed on our ability to monitor terrorists. With each passing day, the quality of our intelligence is diminished for no other reason than politics. I find that unacceptable, and it’s a good bet the vast majority of the American people do too."

It's got to be tough on the party of the welfare state that the pesky House minority won't let them simply forget about the threats outside our borders and focus all their efforts on keeping people at home poor, rather than on keeping them alive.

Posted in Breaking News | FISA | Republicans — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:30pm on Feb. 22, 2008 I hope you enjoyed that week off, House Democrats.

Because the end of recess is coming up.

By Moe Lane

And you'll have to face us eventually. Via Protein Wisdom:

Now, I understand how your supporters are going to take advantage of our current administration's quaint habit of taking security clearances seriously to duckspeak about how we're not actually more at risk from your grandstanding. Let 'em: that's why they're there. But all y'all know just how badly you messed this one up... and the clock keeps tick tick ticking along until you can't run away any longer. And when you do break, next week, the elapsed time won't actually make your base less unhappy with you.

Enjoy your weekend!

Posted in Archived | Cut you if you Stand / Shoot You if You Run | FISA | Great Netroot Betrayal — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »