This is no "compromise." This is complete capitulation to Bush and the telcos.

If this stands we'll never even know the extent of the Bush regime's abuses.

This is beyond pathetic. The Democrats are a political party in name only.

The only problem with the old FISA law was the routing of international phone/data communication through the US. That would have been an easy fix -- and the Democrats had said so on numerous occasions.

National security wasn't even an issue because emergency wiretap warrants were already obtainable retroactively from the FISA court. Of course, the Bush regime had the inconvenience of showing "probable cause." That won't be a problem now.

This "compromise" now allows the trashing of our 4th Amendment rights to privacy so long as some administration Inspector General says its okay. And oh, by the way, all those illegal warrantless wiretaps that the Bush regime had on American citizens? That's now okay too.

That's your "compromise."

The Bush regime has ruled as a dictatorship since September 11, 2001. Its lame rationale of a hitherto unknown theory of a "unitary executive" has revealed a contempt for the Constitution, Congress, the judiciary, our laws, treaties, and even basic standards of decency.

They are criminals operating with impunity -- and why not? The only constitutional check on executive branch abuses, the Congress, has placed the only corrective means at their disposal, impeachment, "off the table."

If the sheriff has no gun and no jail, the criminals don't worry about the law.

It's nice that they let you have access to a computer in the Day Room, but you need to tell the nurse that they need to adjust your meds.

Glenn, assuming this "compromise" legislation passes, why can't it be challenged via lawsuit?

It's so obviously unconstitutional I would think we'd see the same type of favorable 5-4 decision as in the Habeas Corpus case.

Remember at the time of the Plame leak there was a mutiny going on at the CIA. The professionals at CIA saw the handwriting on the wall regarding the trumping-up of reasons for invading Iraq and were leaking the truth to the media.

At the time, this mutiny was fairly well known, but has since disappeared down the memory hole. When Wilson's op-ed appeared, the Bush regime could point to Plame's employment at CIA and say "See, Wilson's wife is CIA, so of course, he has an anti-Iraq war agenda."

Also, at that time, Plame's covert CIA duties encompassed nuclear weapons proliferation in the Mid East -- including Iran. The Neocon mantra was, and is, "Everyone says on to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran." Rolling up a covert -- and accurate -- source of human intelligence on Iranian nuclear weapons capability would allow for easier manipulation of intelligence estimates of an Iranian threat.

If we've learned anything about the Bush regime, everything -- even national security -- is subordinated to political considerations.

Congressional Democratic leaders' position seems to be:

"We must capitulate to every Republican position so that more Democrats will be elected."

With spineless, calculating Democratic "leadership" like that, who in their right mind would ever put their trust in the Democratic Party?

Are they idiots, corrupt or poltroons? No matter which, they've demonstrated time and again that they are incapable of effective leadership.

Here's a clue for Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer, et al:

Power is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

I admire Jesse Ventura for his candor -- he is after all the only atheist elected to state-wide office that I'm aware of -- but at this point America needs much more than a colorful personality.

Al Franken is not only a public intellectual (in a post-intellectual era), he is unquestionably a damn fine man. He single-handedly took-on the most odious of the right-wing blow-hards (Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, etc.) when they reigned unchallenged in our fawning media culture. Franken is a patriot.

The US Senate will be more representative of the peoples' interests when Al Franken replaces that opportunistic hack, Norm Coleman.

The biggest scandal and greatest threat to both our Constitutional rights and freedoms seems to be lost in the minutae of the FISA debate.

If the Bush regime has been sweeping-up ALL voice and data communications in the name of "foreign to domestic" surveillance, is there any doubt that these guys haven't exploited this capability on selected domestic-to-domestic communications for partisan political advantage?

It seems to me this is the only real reason the Bush regime would have for avoiding going before a FISA court for warrants.

Glenn, as you've laid it out, it all seems so obvious.

Why then do the national Democratic "strategists" refuse to see it? Can they really be so stupid?

None of this would have happened if we we had a functioning Congress.

To quote the immortal H.L. Mencken: Congress is composed of roughly 1/3 scoundrels, 2/3 idiots, and 3/3 poltroons.

How Clark's statement of the obvious (in response to Schieffer's question and repeating Schieffer's own words) could be transfigured into an "attack on McCain's military service" simply proves once again the hardwiring of the GOP spin machine into the corporate "news" media.

Obama had better learn to defend his defenders -- especially when fully justifiable. The Republicans have no similar disdain for mud-wrestling.

As a Democrat, if John Kerry had ever made propaganda films for the North Vietnamese (as McCain did) he would had been considered disqualified from public service, not a "hero."

Odd that McCain's collaboration films have been officially "disappeared."

Israel doesn't need support for its defense -- as a nuclear power it is by far the strongest military power in the region and could literally glass-over any country challenging its existence.

"Support" doesn't mean assisting with Israel's defense. "Support" now means endorsing -- and even actively assisting -- Israel's offensive military actions, as we saw in Lebanon and which it is now threatening against Iran.

That kind of "support" is not in the interests of the USA -- except for Rapturists trying to bring about Armageddon.