FISA Vote Thread

The Dodd amendment to strike retroactive immunity from the FISA bill failed by a vote of 32-66. No Republicans voted for it because no Republicans give a damn about civil liberties outside of the second amendment. Thirty-two Democrats voted correctly. Eighteen did not. You won’t be too surprised to see the crew of characters that are more concerned about Verizon than your privacy.

Bayh (D-IN), Carper (D-DE), Conrad (D-ND), Feinstein (D-CA), Inouye (D-HI), Johnson (D-SD), Kohl (D-WI), Landrieu (D-LA), Lincoln (D-AR), McCaskill (D-MO), Mikulski (D-MD), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO), Webb (D-VA)

Webb and Mikulski represent the two states that host most of the Intelligence Community. The NSA is in Maryland and the CIA and Pentagon are in Virginia. Their votes were probably swayed primarily by their relationships with the IC. The rest of this list reads just like a list of the DLC. Bayh and Carper are both former chairmen of the DLC.

Update [2008-7-9 13:11:7 by BooMan]: The Specter Amendment failed by a vote of 37-61. Here are the Democrats that seriously don’t care at all about the rule of law if it means hurting corporate profits.

Bayh (D-IN), Carper (D-DE), Feinstein (D-CA), Inouye (D-HI), Johnson (D-SD), Landrieu (D-LA), Lincoln (D-AR), Mikulski (D-MD), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO)

Update [2008-7-9 13:25:8 by BooMan]: The Bingaman Amendment failed 42-56.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.