On FISA, for instance.

I'm not taking anything away from the importance of blogs in putting pressure on the Senate and House, and thereby providing important support for the truly liberal cohort of Democrats, nor am I arguing that everything Reid or Pelosi or other Democratic Senators have done is always either wise or smart, but one aspect of the critique offered here at Corrente, but not just here, Glenn Greenwald went even further than Lambert, and with less wit, insisting that it was a known fact that Harry Reid's protestations that he didn't favor retroactive immunity and did favor preserving FISA as the exclusive and necessary agency to preserve the 4th amendment checks on government intrusion on its citizens in matters of intelligence gathering were lies, and a cover for his clear desire to make sure that Rockfeller's Senate intelligence bill would be the final outcome.

That prediction has turned out to be wrong. And if it had been so, that Reid wanted to capitulate, Reid had the power to sell out the position he claimed to hold. He didn't sell it out.

Not that were out of the woods yet, by any means, and we need to do something about the Military Commissions Act, which isn't even being talked about. Luckily, the new FISA bill had that six month sunset provision.

Just saying....sometimes process does matter, and isn't just a snare and a delusion.

The abomination in August should never have passed in the first place; and yes, "now make me pass it," and all that, but for the FISA thing, that's setting the bar really, really low.

Now, for this one, even I don't think that Reid isn't committed to the rule of law, and the survival of the Senate as a legitimate branch of goverment; that is, Bush may not have crossed the Rubicon. So, good for him. So, the patient is not dead. On life support? Yes.

Modified rapture...

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

I don't expect the DOJ to do anything on this and when they blow the Senate off, will there be any consequences? Personally, I'd look into cutting the FBI's budget. The FBI would sell out its mother for its budget and what you really need here is the investigation to be started. It won't be done until the next administration anyway.

So good on Harry to urge something - that's more than they've done at other times - but if the follow up is as weak as it's been on the subpoenas and other good first steps, I'm not holding my breath that the Senate has found its backbone or that any Republicans have found their sense of shame or self-worth. Has any group of Senators ever allowed a president - and an unpopular one at that - to piss all over them and their prerogatives like Senate Republicans. They're worse than the Democrats.

Hi leah. If what we have now is the outcome Reid wanted, he used Olympic-caliber passive aggression to get there. Why ignore a fellow Democrat's hold when you've never done that to a Republican? Why put Rockfeller's bill on the floor instead of th Judiciary Committee version? I suppose it's possible he gamed it all out and saw it ending like that but that's an awful lot of unknowns to correctly account for. And we certainly haven't seen that kind of prescience from him elsewhere.

Here is a play by play on the role of archaic congressional procedures used with FISA. Bottom line: Reid and Pelosi are either legislative geniuses or lucked into a very good outcome.

Link

I would quote some of the link, but it really doesn't make sense in parts. You need to read the whole thing.

but at the last minute redirected it to my favorite liquor store. It was fun doing it, and I will be trying this on my other bills (once the weather warms up more--they are predicting snow in Portland, OR tomorrow). ++++