FISA Post-Mortem
Matt Stoller has a simple summary of the procedural screw-ups that resulted in the passage of the crappy FISA bill. While no one comes away looking good to me, this clearly looks worse on Reid and the Senate. To continue an analogy from the piece...if the House "walked the pitcher," it was in relief. It was Reid who loaded the bases and issued the first three balls.
Fucking Dreamworld
David Sirota is smoking serious crack if he thinks the Dems would actually do this—he lays out a strategy to defeat the FISA bill by de-funding it.
A "concensus?" Really?
Somebody buy Joe Biden a clue. Or take Sirota's crackpipe away from him.
Aiding and Abetting
Glenn Greenwald makes the case in his article "Democrats' Responsibility for Bush Radicalism" that the Dems aren't merely gutless, but that they are, in fact, willing accomplices. Greenwald looks at the fatal flaws of the strategy, and also includes an excerpt from his interview of one of the few Dems not on my shit list—Chris Dodd.
As usual, Greenwald is loaded with tons of good stuff. Hell, just read 'em all:
The strong and tough Democrats
Attention Democrats: GOP fear-mongering does not work
Chris Dodd on FISA, habeas corpus and Democratic capitulation
The List Grows Longer
That would be the list of things I don't like about Hillary... Mark Kleiman rightly calls her out for employing a union-buster as her chief strategist and pollster, and for taking lobbyist's money.
"Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?"
Sen. Leahy extends subpoena deadline. Again. Here's an idea, Senator, maybe you should have told the White House to "go fuck itself" on the FISA overhaul unless they comply. I can hear Fred Fielding and Karl Rove laughing from here.
In Gonzo We Trust
The always excellent Dahlia Lithwick has a column at Slate on the ridiculous contortions by Democrats on Gonzales.
There is virtually no way to reconcile Sen. Mark Pryor's, D-Ark., claim that Gonzales has "lied to the Senate" and needs to go with his vote to expand the reach of our warrantless eavesdropping program. And how can one possibly square Sen. Dianne Feinstein's, D-Calif., claim that the AG "just doesn't tell the truth" with her vote to give him yet more unchecked authority?
[...] Imagine that the Democrats had been hollering for the past six months that Gonzales was an out-of-control drunk. With their eavesdropping vote, they've handed him the keys to a school bus. Nobody was forcing these Democrats to impeach or censure the AG. But this warm pat on the back they have offered him is beyond incredible.
With this FISA vote, the Democrats have compromised the investigation into the U.S. attorney scandal. They've shown themselves either to be participating in an empty political witch hunt or curiously willing to surrender our civil liberties to someone who has shown—time and again—that he cannot be trusted to safeguard them. The image of Democrats hypocritically berating the attorney general with fingers crossed behind their backs is ultimately no less appalling than an attorney general swearing to uphold the Constitution with fingers crossed behind his own.
2 comments:
OK, say Leahy pushes on to a showdown in court, as he should. Then what?
Bush & Co. run out the clock with delays and obstructions, unless maybe they get a Gonzo-grade right-wing judge — a distinct possibility.
Yes, Leahy should do all he can do, and stop hanging back. Just don't expect satisfaction ever, much less fast relief.
As for all the sturm and drang about Dems OK'ing the six months for electronic monitoring of foreign suspects, let's get real.
First, Bush, Cheney, Gonzo and the rest of the unindicted co-conspirators conducted illegal warrantless eavesdropping for years already. Does anyone believe if they intend to keep doing that, that lack of congressional Democrats' approval will stop them? I sure don't believe that.
BTW, don't be surprised if it turns out Rove's plan is to bait Democrats into appearing to go overboard, the way Republicans did trying to impeach Bill Clinton after the Monica scandal. That overreach mobilized the left and bound even disgusted Dems to their embattled guy. With his subterranean poll numbers, that kind of backlash by his base and Republicans generally would be a godsend for Bush.
Crap like this subpoena and the other stuff the WH won't share with Congress is all the Dems needed for cover to refuse to amend FISA.
"You won't even tell us what the surveillance programs you're already using are, and everything you tell us, if you tell us anything, turns out to be a lie. Every power you've already been granted has been abused, and your Administration and the DoJ have already operated illegally with impunity. There is no way under those circumstances this Congress can in good conscience grant you MORE powers with LESS Congressional and Judicial oversight.
No soup for you."
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