The 15 Dems Who Tried To Block Telecom Immunity

The debate over how the Bush administration has conducted its warrantless wiretapping program seems to be nearing a legislative end.

On Thursday, the United State Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance a legislative compromise on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, marking the beginning of the end of a fierce battle over civil liberties and national security that has been waged in the halls of Congress for more than three years.

And yet, for all of the political passions the issue engendered, the fight over FISA ended with something of a whimper. The final product -- much to the consternation of the progressive community -- gave the president wide authority to monitor terrorist suspects and collect communications from U.S. citizens without review. It also offered telecommunications companies that helped with the previously illegal program immunity from lawsuits, a hard provision to swallow for the program's opponents.

In the end, only 15 U.S. Senators were willing to resort to procedural tactics as a last ditch effort to hold up the legislation. The list of those who voted against cloture included:

Joseph Biden, DE
Barbara Boxer, CA
Sherrod Brown, OH
Maria Cantwell, WA
Chris Dodd, CT
Dick Durbin, IL
Russ Feingold, WI
Tom Harkin, IA
John Kerry, MA
Frank Lautenberg, NJ
Patrick Leahy, VT
Robert Menendez, NJ
Bernie Sanders, VT
Chuck Schumer, NY
Ron Wyden, OR

For the White House and the majority of the Senate, the FISA compromise has been hailed as a political breakthrough. "I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get," Republican Sen. Kit Bond told the New York Times.

Sen. Barack Obama, a reluctant supporter of the bill, said he would work to strip telecom immunity from its language. However, he added, "My view on FISA has always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people."

Others were not so willing to concede. Sen. Chris Dodd, who left the campaign trail before Iowa to threaten a filibuster of a FISA compromise that included immunity, today bemoaned the fact that the public would never know the scope of the administration's actions.

"We're closing the door, never to know why this happened, who ordered it, why did they avoid [the courts], what was behind their thinking," said the Connecticut Democrat. "And that is a dangerous step for us."

Sen. Russ Feingold, another aggressive opponent of the compromise, spoke with sorrow over his party's unwillingness to put up a principled fight.

"It's the latest chapter of running for cover when the Administration tries to intimidate Democrats on national security issues," he told The Young Turks radio show. "It's the most embarrassing failure of the Democrats I've seen since 2006, other than the failure to vote to end the Iraq war. These are the two real sad aspects of an otherwise pretty good record. It's letting George Bush and Dick Cheney have their way even though they're that unpopular and on their way out. It's really incredible."

Comments

[Nonamnesiac]

I see that "Give 'em Hell" Harry Reid whom Huffpo claimed was against Obama's sellout ended up selling out too. I guess the telecoms upped his piece too along with Obama's. Doesn't matter anyway, as Pavlov dog progressives will vote for Obama even if he votes to bury Iraqis alive, claiming Obama's the lesser of the evils. At least the Right knows how to leverage their votes to get results. The Left simply sells out, acts like Pavlov's dogs to the Obamas of the world ringing the bell while these so-called progressives salivate their votes for funders of war crimes, like Obama. Then these Pavlovians attack those of us who won't vote for those who fund war crimes and who vote for immunity for corporate criminals for not getting their funder of war crimes and immunizers of corporate criminals and civil liberties tramplers elected. So long as cynical, lying, double-talking politicians like Obama know that progressives will vote for them so long as they have a "D" label, they'll always move to the right, as the right will not simply vote for people who betray their despicable principles while progressives will give up legitimate, significant, principle in a heartbeat.

[zizyphus]

Only fifteen dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. Remember that when it comes time to re-elect them.

I am nauseated by the Senators from Hawaii. Seems they ran out of toilet paper, so they decided the constitution should be torn up and used. Cowards.

What's worse is, it looks like those who will run against them in the next election are even worse. Case, who is surely a republican in drag, and Lingle, who embodies the worst that Republicans have to offer. If Neil Abercrombie runs, he would be a better choice than those two.

[Raymondf]

To get a FICA warrant it takes 72 hours. Thats longer than the World Trade centers lasted. Think about it .

[nighthawk808]

That's about 1/1000th of how long it took to plan it. Think about THAT. They had plenty of time to get all the legal warrants they wanted, and they still didn't manage to do jack. Why should we give them even more of our privacy when they can't even use what ample resources they had prior to 9/11?

[Raymondf]

You might know the same old politicans, they should be voted out.

[emcd]

Here's a grassroots idea for all those upset by this. How about a consumer boycott? if Qwest stood up to Bush admin why don't all those opposed to the telecom "spying" leave their provider and sign up with Qwest? Of find another provider that did abet the Bus admin in this spying campaign.

[speakingtruth2power]

The idea that the telecoms can still face criminal charges is very naive.

Political healing always trumps recriminations of past administrations.

Although I hope for real change, "Not this time" is likely just verbiage!!!

[alainv]

I t's official. We are no longer a democratic society. Welcome to the new world order. This is the fourth Riech . The eletes have all there pieces in place. Obama will not save you , he never could have been nominated if he was'nt one of them. There are hundreds of FEMA concentration camps ready to hold millions of protestors. The new microwave crowd controll devices {as demonstrated for Sixty Minutes with soldiers dressed as citizens with no war tshirts as the targets} will be to much for this country of sheep. We have been begging for our own enslavement and we shall have it. Heil Bush,our supreme leader. There will be a new false flag attack before November, martial law , checkmate.

[bodo]

The most interesting fact is neither Senators Clinton nor Obama nor McCain are on this list.

[Raymondf]

Very smartly so.

[ouroborous]

Even putting aside the HUGE question of right or wrong (which, you know, I guess I naively thought they should care about) and Constitutionality, only time will tell if this move is so "smart."

Now Obama has pissed off most of his progressive base (the very people who propelled him from a no-name candidate to the Democratic nominee for President, remember) as well as giving a gold-plated piece of ammunition to the Republican attack machine: "see, he flip-flopped on an issue of substance. Is THAT 'change you can believe in?'"

Time will tell, but I think we'll find out that this may actually be one of the dumbest moves Obama has made so far. Clinton is in a different boat, now that she's no longer officially the candidate, but I do find it telling that, even without the pressure of candidacy, she STILL voted for this train-wreck of a bill.

[ihavenobias]

That link to the Feingold interview with The Young Turks was great. Russ DID speak with sorrow, as he should have. He is one of the few good representatives we have.

[quantum9leap]

I cannot imagine a more important sellout. Shall I after all of these years leave the Democratic party?
What happened to the liberalism and progressiveism of this party. They have now joined tweedle dee dee and tweedle dee dum in their quests for the presidency. Oh woe is me.I am so saddened. I quake to imagine the plight of the American citizens in the future with a complete repeal of constitutional government and renounciation of the Constitution.

[RTIII]

LETS TAKE OUR PARTY BACK!

Don't give in. Do it smarter.

We have to REMEMBER. We have to HELP EACH OTHER vote out the bad ones.

It's NOT too late. In the House it was 133 good dems vs 105 that have to be removed.

The Senate is worse; 15 good, 35 that have to be removed. Still, the balance of power, Senate vs House, not withstanding, the overall balance is just about half, 155 that have to go, 148 that we can keep, knowing they're not evil.

This vote was good for just one thing: Knowing who the good guys and bad guys are certainty.
.

[NotPC]

The reason BO wasn't able to help out his fellow senators, was because he was tied up giving an interview to Fox News.......the Business Hour. He was doing his best to impress us with how he is now moving to the "center". It was priceless!

[Pupster]

Yeah, he's doing this thing called running for President. Hear of it?

[MainSpark]

Sure, I've heard of it!

And he's behaving just as some of us predicted. However, instead of referring to it as "running for President," I believe that there are others who call it "backsliding." For others, it's "politics as usual."

[nighthawk808]

Running for which party? Not the Democrats in this case.

[CamJam]

Hey, just a heads up! Tomorrow night on PBS Bill Moyer's Journal, he will be speaking with Senator Barbara Boxer but on the Global Warming Issue.

“We need to get off foreign oil. The best way to do it is to become energy independent.
The best way to do that is to embrace global warming legislation. ”
- Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

After this airs on TV, you'll also be able to watch it online

This woman is Awesome!

[cuomofied]

That woman is crazy

[nellie]

Crazy like a fox. She's an amazing senator. And she's trying to save your future, in spite of your bad attitude.

[zizyphus]

Boxer - one of the few with the courage of her convictions, a rarity these days.

[nellie]

Partial quote, but not exact:

"Late last summer, the congress got this scary report that the capitol building was going to be bombed. So they pushed through bad legislation that the president could continue to eavesdrop without a warrant. The last 10 months, we've been living in an unconstitutional country, where you can spy at the president's direction at any time for any reason without going to court. The question that people have to answer, is whether getting a bill that restores the fourth amendment, that the FISA courts are back in business, worth losing the ability to sue telephone companies."

This is a paraphrase of Jonathan Alter today on The Randi Rhodes Show. He adds that there are other ways to get to the criminal activity of the Bush Administra­tion&mdash­;although discovery in the telecom lawsuits would have been a great investigative tool. So I understand why people are supporting this bill, because at present, there are no checks at all on the Bush Administration's surveillance. But IMHO the whole situation stinks.

[WindmillSlayer]

Nellie, the tnew FISA bill doesn't do anything to rein in the Bush administration -- in fact, it offers loopholes to be exploited by a group that already acts as if it is above the law. Read this and tell me if you still think the FISA compromise was still a good idea: http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/35782leg20080625.html

The "Protect America Act" should be repealed, and the telecoms should be held responsible. But what is of paramount importance is that the Bush admin be held accountable for everything it has done. Period.

[nellie]

I don't think it's a good idea. I just understand why people are supporting it. There have been no FISA warrants issued since last August. I didn't even know that. I thought the Protect America Act had expired. That's really all we needed. I thought that would put the original FISA process back in place. But apparently, that's not what happened. Now, it seems, we have nothing and no oversight.

So I don't think we can repeal because it's already gone. What I don't understand is why we don't have the original FISA regulations back in place.

[izofmagritte]

I just got off a call to Obama's campaign. I told them how disappointed I was in in his support for the FISA "compromise". The volunteer sounded totally depressed and said they have received many calls expressing the same sentiment.

The number is 866-675-2008, maybe if enough of us call he will understand the impact he is having on his netroots base and do some "rethinking"?

[111]

I called, told them since he supported this bill I wasn't going to support him. The end.

I thought Clinton was going to oppose this bill but I don't see her name listed.

[Pupster]

Maybe you should drop out of society alltogether and find a shack somewhere in the mountains.

[Janco54]

So what you're saying is that if you are going to support someone they have to agree with your stance 100% of the time or they lose that support?
Wow - you must have a long list of people you used to support!
This bill deals directly with national security. The Republicans have been trying to make Obama out to be light in the experience of national security. He's running for President. He needs to show everyone that their security is his number one priority.
I'm not crazy about the way they threw it all in together either but I'll take legal surveillance over illegal any day of the week.

[sclucie]

you make total sense.

[onlinesavant]

Yea, you make total sense. But you do realize that he is not the only Democrat who voted for the "compromise" right. Why is the progressive community focusing all their heat on him?

[progressivepam]

because he's the democrat who will be receiving the nomination for president... that's why... Hillary voted the wrong way too.

[WhiteDelyte]

My Heroes...
Can we see more of this?? Please!
I'm talking to you Obama...be OUR hero.

[danoj]

the 15 most dangerous people in America. The dems will get us attacked again yet, just like Bill Clinton did.

[nellie]

Oh for crying out loud. Try to post something that makes sense.

[cuomofied]

You're clueless. Why did we get attacked on 9-11 when GWB was monitoring Americans' phone calls since JULY 2001 - 2 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE ATTACKS!

These 15 Dems are patriots, and I'm a real conservative. Not a silly Neo-Con like you.

They could basically spy at will already, something like only 2-3 requests had been denied since the induction of the FISA court.

This is an unconstitutional power grab unprecedented in American history. I'd rather be free and attacked than not free and "safe".

This is the same backwards mentality that allows people to think the government was responsible for Katrina. The governement is NOT HERE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU! From Terror, from Drugs, or from Youself.

[sclucie]

if we are attacked again, the bush administration, the war in iraq, including the atrocities in abu ghraib and the murdering blackwater security firm will have far more to do with it than bill clinton.

[111]

The facts -

9/11 happened 8 months after Bush was in office. Bush and Cheney refused to testify under oath during the 9/11 investigation that they tried to prevent from happening and then interfered with.

What is the oath? I will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What they did? I will not swear to tell the truth ...

Bush/Cheney and those that support and protect them are more of a threat to America than any terrorist.