Steve, your final point is a keeper. How can Leahy and Conyers and the rest of the Dems continue to "investigate" warrantless wiretapping scams by Gonzales, Bush, Cheney and Rove now that they've effectively green lighted much more egregious behavior.
Once again the Dems may have been suckered into the Briarpatch by Bush/Rove. Using the "soft on Terror" threat to ram this legislation down the Dems throat might really have hidden a plan to take the heat off Gonzo and render the Dem NSA oversight investigations a joke. Now Rove can call any hearings totally partisan, because the Dems are investigating transgressions they voted for. Brer Rabbit wins again.
Coloradans should be aware that Senator Ken Salazar's brother, John, voted for this bill.
Posted by Slothrop at August 6, 2007 08:46 AMI think what would be most useful is understanding how this happened
so quickly. I feel like the Republicans pulled a fast one and the
actual mechanisms they used should be exposed. Other than that it
seemed like the old Bluedog Salazarian crap but it came out of
nowhere. I think hearings with Abu Gonzales on what procedures he
was going to instill, with him giving the trust me speech, would have
sufficed to kill it. Why the leadership d
idn't make these hearings
happen is unclear to me.
Salazar and his Brother
Posted by marc sobel at August 6, 2007 08:54 AMDemocrats have been selective surrendering on a myriad of things near-and-dear to Bush: funding his Iraq war, spying and rightwing judges.
But heck, Speaker Botox is working for "America's children." Just like Alberto Gonzales.
Posted by Christopher at August 6, 2007 09:18 AMYour description doesn't apply to Maryland's Senator Barbara Mukulski among others. Explain these people's votes:
Sen. Evan Bayh (IN)
Sen. Kent Conrad (ND)
Sen. Daniel Inouye (HI)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Sen. Bill Nelson (FL)
Sen. Ben Nelson (NE)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Sen. Tom Carper (DE)
Sen. Bob Casey (PA)
Colin Peterson (7th Minnesota)
Timothy Walz (1st Minnesota)
Daniel Lipinski (3rd Illinois)
Brian Higgins (27th New York)
Jason Altmire (4th Pennsylvania)
Melissa Bean (8th Illinois)
Christopher Carney (10th Pennsylvania)
these aren't 'red' states....yet.
Steve,
Good post. Thanks for prominently noting this apparent Democratic capitulation. Most Congressional Democrats are congenial with this and can't wait to take the wheel from the GOP. After all they serve common corporate masters and unquestioningly accept the conventional beltway wisdom, despite abundant contrary evidence, about privatization and the universal applicability of force.
"The data mining controversy isn’t about the US government spying on Americans. It’s about the government using big corporations as a Constitutional workarounds to spy on Americans. It’s not the government that actually sifts through our emails and phone records but companies such as Lockheed Marin, Raytheon, SAIC and Booz Allen Hamilton and their subcontractors."
Exclusive: Intel Outsourcing at Heart of Gonzales Controversy
by R. J. Hillhouse, The Spy Who Billed Me, July 30, 2007
"The contractors in charge of espionage are still chiefly CIA alumni who have absorbed its public service values. But as the center of gravity shifts from the public sector to the private, more than one independent intelligence firm has developed plans to "raise" succeeding generations of officers within its own training systems. These corporate-grown agents will be inculcated with corporate values and ethics, not those of public service."
Who Runs the CIA? Outsiders for Hire.
by R. J. Hillhouse, WaPo/B05, July 8, 2007
"...corporate values and ethics..."? Yikes! That's the major element of our current predicament: a corporate tax dodging, socially austere, war economy. And they can't even keep the roads up, let alone get the planes and trains running on time, while managing to initiate a half dozen self-aggrandizing military fiascos.
Yeah, as Erin and plf515/DailyKos say, time to replace some Vichy/Blue Dog Democrats along with the GOP deadwood.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at August 6, 2007 10:41 AMI know the answer for Difi. I saw it elsewhere here. Believe me, I'm trying to cut her any breaks. Shame she was re-elected last year, we didn't run anybody good against her.
I would like to know the answers for Maryland and Delaware they don't seem to fit at all. Are y'all cutting them a big break here?
Posted by peter at August 6, 2007 12:14 PMFool me once...
Remember the IWR? The DEM controlled Senate had to hurry up the debate and pass the thing because they needed to get home to campaign (even though only a third of them were running). Many of them today want to blame Bush for their votes, but the truth is that they couldn't be bothered to take the time to seriously consider what was at stake. I want to scream everytime Hillary seeks cover by saying that she expected GWB to get UN authorization -- well, lady if that's what you expected, why didn't you put that in the resolution?
Now they must hurry up to go on vacation. Who cares that they gave the corrupt Gonzo more power and gave Bu$hCo retroactive exoneration of their past criminal activity. Pelosi and Reid better hope that there is another terrorist hit on the US; but of course there won't be because it wouldn't benefit Bu$hCo.
Posted by Marie at August 6, 2007 04:41 PM