Bush Got What He Wanted On Telecom Immunity

by Steve Soto

In the coming days when Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Harry Reid tell us that the telecom immunity sell-out was part of a balanced domestic surveillance compromise, remember that the GOP is already crowing about this:

"I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get," said Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, who led the negotiations.

House GOP Leaders are bragging that all the lawsuits against the telecoms will be dead now, because they know the language as written and soon to be implemented by Bush-appointed judges will ensure that.

And yet the Democratic leadership tries to talk of a balanced approach that is an improvement over what Bush did in the past. That's the problem: Democrats approach everything as seeking improvement against a president with a sub-30 approval rating, while the GOP stops at nothing short of victory on their terms, knowing they have 20-30 Blue Dog Democrats in their back pockets.

Update: The House passed the bill this morning with 293 votes, and with Jane Harman chirping along.

And who were among the 105 Democrats who voted for this bill? Well, how about these losers:

Nancy Pelosi
Jane Harman
Silvestre Reyes
James Clyburn
Rahm Emanuel
Steny Hoyer
Jerry McNerney
Patrick Murphy
John Murtha
Adam Schiff
Joe Sestak

Read it and weep kids. Your Democratic leadership just gave the telecoms a free pass at the expense of the Constitution. I hope the campaign contributions were worth it.