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.
Shameful.
The Bingaman amendment to require that the Senate to wait until the IG audit of the NSA program is complete before immunizing the teleCONs failed 42-56
[60 votes were required for passage because henry didn’t want to force the RATs to have to filibuster…whata guy]]
demoRATs against: Bayh – Landrieu – Nelson (Neb.) – Pryor – Rockefeller.
recessed until later in the afternoon, final vote on bill then…it’s over.
It was over as soon as Pelosi and Hoyer caved.
yep…l’ll never understand the rationale behind bringing this forward now.
we could have reverted to the existing/historic FISA law, and everything would have continued, pretty much as is.
the only possible explanations are grim at best, and treasonous at worst.
it is a sad day that will be looked back on in infamy. l liked this from feingold this am:
at least obama showed up. l’ll be interested to see how he votes later. lf he votes aye, then l think he’s got problems.
he’s already said that he’s voting aye.
l know what he said, but there’s been a lot of blowback over that, hence my comment about the outcome being interesting.
he still has to cast his vote, or skip it, or vote present.
it’ll pass without him, so, imo, an aye vote would be nothing more than a craven political act.
It doesn’t matter. It wasn’t his vote we needed but his leadership and his rhetoric. If he votes nay now he’ll look like a jackass to 100% of the world rather than just the 50% that think he’s a jackass already. I don’t even care how he votes on this at this point. It’ll be more interesting to see if Clinton moves to his left to maximize his pain.
l expect clinton to vote against the measure. she has nothing to lose, and it would be a sharp jab…et tu brute…which l rather suspect she, and bill, would savor.
the short version re: obama: he could, by voting nay, spin it that he listened to his constituency and and got it. 50% of the people are still going to think he’s an ass, but it would be a sop to his supporters.
otherwise, his change meme is rendered inoperable.
he’s in a no-win situation. It’s partly of his own making, but he is diminished no matter how he votes.
well, that’s what happens when you make promises you never intended to keep.
Make your own Obama poster: here’s mine.
you don’t understand the rationale?
Let me explain it to you: the democrats are complicit in the lawbreaking. By allowing the cases to move forward, their own asses are exposed to prosecution.
Nancy Pelosi does not want to go to jail, nor does she want her husband’s millions in AT&T stock to go south.
It’s called “self-interest” and CYA. Very easy to understand.
You should probably take this opportunity to lube up so you are prepared when the Senate reconvenes and votes on final passage.
Accountability Now. That’s where my money’s going.
‘Sweetheart.’, he called her, and she blushed.
Remember when Obama was going to filibuster this bill?
Good times, good times. Oh well, at least that awful Clinton woman didn’t win. Obama is SO different. A man of principle. A man who says what he means and means what he says. A man who doesn’t pander, who stands up for what’s right and against what’s wrong. [Pardon any typos, it’s really hard to type when you’re clapping as hard as i’m clapping: I DO believe, I DO believe, I DO believe!]
Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to go throw up.
you shouted for after you called for it. Can’t help myself. It was one my favorite things that you have implied in the past to other crazy people. Being French and having been Fried in the past I do try to check myself often for being delusional.
oh yeah, I do NOT in any sense exempt myself from my scorn. Like merle haggard once sang “I can’t stand me”.
Adding that I was never a huge supporter of Obama. I was a Dodd or Edwards man, but allowed myself to be persuaded by a number of people, including our gracious host here at BMT.
I’ve learned my lesson: I’m sticking with my own common sense from now on.
Accountability NOW!
If she were the nominee, she totally would have voted for it, and you know it.
They’re all spineless sacks of crap.
Not disagreeing with that.
Johnny Rotten once asked “ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
And the answer is “yes, yes i DO feel like I’ve been cheated.”
hope-a-dope.
32-66. 37-61. 42-56. At least the trend was in the right direction. Do you supposed if they’d had a couple more amendments, one of them might have actually passed? I mean, surely they could have gotten 60 votes for a sternly worded letter or something.
Vote Out All Democrats is the Booman motto.
President McCain is the answer to your prayers.
I will laugh my ass off when you lose your job, health care goes away and your kids get drafted to fight in Iran.
Bet you will feel so smart. Glad I showed Obama.
Josh Marshall is reporting that the FISA bill passed, and Obama voted for it.
It’s evening in America.
via greenwald at salon:
On a happy note, Ted Kennedy just now entered the Senate chamber for the first time since his cancer diagnosis and the whole place went wild in applause and cheers. He came to vote on the Medicare payments to doctors issue. It was all so loud that the clerk had to pause the roll call for a few minutes.
Remind me, once again, why I’m supposed to be excited about voting for Obama in Nov.