Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 07/09/2008 1:05:04 PM PDT by shrinkermd
WASHINGTON — More than two and a half years after the disclosure of President’s Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program set off a furious national debate, the Senate gave final approval on Wednesday afternoon to broadening the government’s spy powers and providing legal immunity for the phone companies that took part in the wiretapping program.
The plan, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, marked one of Mr. Bush’s most hard-won legislative victories in a Democratic-led Congress where he has had little success of late. And it represented a stinging defeat for opponents on the left who had urged Democratic leaders to stand firm against the White House after a months-long impasse.
“I urge my colleagues to stand up for the rule of law and defeat this bill,” Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said in closing arguments.
But Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there was nothing to fear in the bill “unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial.”
Supporters of the plan, which revised the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, said that the final vote reflected both political reality and legal practicality. Wiretapping orders approved by a secret court under the previous version of the surveillance law were set to begin expiring in August unless Congress acted, and many Democrats were wary of going into their political convention in Denver next month with the issue hanging over them—handing the Republicans a potent political weapon.
So instead, Congress approved what amounted to the biggest restructuring
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I bet Obama did not even bother to vote.
I don’t trust the government. While I certainly have nothing to hide, it’s a slippery slope. We can only hope that the precident doesn’t allow some future president to justify more overt spying techniques.
>>>>>>the phone companies that took part in the wiretapping program.
Pointless to correct this again, but it wasn’t a “wiretapping” program, it was a trap-and-trace and pen-register program.
There’s a huge world of technical and legal difference among those terms.
He was there. How he voted I am not sure. Said he would vote for it. But you know an empty suit is just that!
He voted yes. Hillary voted no.
LOL! Bush just got the war funded... AGAIN!
Actually, I read on FR that he voted in favor of this. I could be wrong.
Well I was wrong. Obama did end up voting. He voted yes like he indicated in his recent flip-flop announcement. McCain however did not bother to vote, probably hurting his chance to capitolize on this issue.
The DUmmies and KOSnuts heads’ must be exploding this afternoon!
"The issue put Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in a particularly precarious spot. After long opposing the idea of immunity for the phone companies in the wiretapping operation, he voted for the plan on Wednesday. His reversal last month angered many of his most ardent supporters, who organized an unsuccessful drive to get him to reverse his position once again. And it came to symbolize what civil liberties advocates saw as “capitulation” by Democratic leaders to political pressure from the White House in an election year."
Can't wait to hear his nuanced explanation.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
What’s hillarious about this is that
THE
point of contention was the ability for tort lawyers to enrich themselves suing the telecom companies for helping the feds protect us from terrorist attacks shortly after 9/11.
unfrickinbelievable.
If it weren’t so close to elections, I wouldn’t be so afraid of who or how the bill is used in the future.
Other than the Columbian free trade deal, I can't think of a single defeat Bush has suffered in congress in the two years the Rats have controlled it.
Obama: This is not the FISA I know... so I vote for it.
well, giving up liberty for security is a proud American tradition. /s
Obviously, they haven't been paying attention. The Republicans/Bush have been kicking their butts all over the place.
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