Letters to the Editor

• The Import of Tuesday's FISA Voting Order

  [Read the article: CNN's John Roberts helps out Mike McConnell]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  It's important to remember that the critical vote on the Senate FISA legislation Tuesday (once the Dodd/Feingold immunity removal amendment and all other similar efforts failed) was the cloture vote to bring debate, and therefore Chris Dodd's filibuster, to an end. That cloture vote to, in effect, 'move the question' required only 41 Senators voting no to keep Dodd's filibuster alive, and the Senate from violating the Constitution. Yet only 29 Senators voted no on cloture, to keep the Cheney/Rockefeller FISA bill from proceeding to a simple majority vote for final passage. [Final passage via simple majority was assured even with no Democratic votes in favor, because of Lieberman and Cheney's tiebreaker, even if Rockefeller somehow voted against his own bill.] Barack Obama was one of those 29 who voted to block the Senate from proceeding to final passage. Hillary Clinton was absent.

  The cloture vote was held at 12:17 p.m. on Tuesday, after all remaining amendments had been voted upon during the morning. After the cloture vote, the Senate recessed for an hour and a half, and then debated a bit more on FISA and on other matters, delaying the final FISA vote (now a mere formality because assured of passage by the successful cloture vote) until 5:30 p.m. on 2/12. There were no intervening votes between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that day, and Obama had been present for the voting that started at 10:15 a.m. He had to get to Wisconsin by that evening, so knowing that final passage was a given, once cloture succeeded, Obama quite understandably didn't wait around all afternoon to cast a vote at 5:30 p.m., in addition to all his amendment votes that morning, and his crucial no vote on cloture at midday. McCain, too, had left the Senate by 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, made no effort to get to the Senate for either the morning, midday or evening votes.

  We need to stop playing their game about the meaning of final passage votes when cloture votes precede them. As with the Alito nomination, the only vote that counted on FISA Tuesday, aside from the amendments, was on cloture, which is where the Democrats needed to stop the bill. Thus Dianne Feinstein deserves no credit for voting "no" on final passage after voting "yes" on cloture to end Dodd's filibuster; all votes on final passage were nothing but a formality - the damage had already been done. At least Feinstein was the only one who tried to pretend that there was any difference between her (60-vote-threshold) cloture vote and the final (simple majority) vote on passage. All the others who sided with corporate and government lawbreakers against our Constitution (Jim Webb, Sheldon Whitehouse, Kent Conrad, Claire McCaskill, Bob Casey, etc.) on cloture, also voted yes on final passage.

  I want to salute Jon Tester. He stood his ground on FISA right down the line, through the amendments as well as on cloture and final passage, against not only Jay Rockefeller (who I understand has befriended and tried to ingratiate himself with Tester since he arrived in the Senate) but also in opposition to the actions of his more credentialed freshmen colleagues Jim Webb (with whom Tester worked on one of the Feingold amendments they co-sponsored) and Sheldon Whitehouse, in order to do the right thing for our country, our Consitution and his constituents in Montana. Thank you, Senator Tester. You showed them how it's done.

  Permalink Saturday, February 16, 2008 01:58 PM

• Is Pat Leahy Leaving The FISA Conference To Jay Rockefeller?

  [Read the article: The Leader isn't protecting us and keeping us safe]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  This sounds like an ominous beginning to the conference process between House and Senate:

  House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said that meetings Friday brought "the beginnings of a resolution" over the key issue of whether legislation updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) should shield the phone companies that took part in the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. Several major carriers face about 40 lawsuits for turning over consumers' information to the administration.

  Conyers and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) met Friday with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to discuss how to reconcile two very different FISA bills.

  [snip]

  Neither Conyers nor House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) would elaborate on the talks, but they said they have a conference "framework" to resolve the sticking point of immunity over the next week, when Congress is in recess.

  http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-see-beginnings-of-deal-on-surveillance-bill-2008-02-15.html

  Is Pat Leahy on another Davos-style junket, that has prompted him to trust immunity-cheerleader Rockefeller to convey the substance of any House/Senate FISA discussions over the phone after the fact to him in Vermont, or elsewhere? What the blazes, Leahy?! Step up to the plate and do your duty, if you mean what you say. If it's all just a con job when you claim to be opposed to corporate lawbreaking immunity, then show your true colors and come out and say so, and stop perpetuating this fraud that you really give a damn about the issue. Or delegate Russ Feingold to take your place at the table on behalf of the Judiciary Committee. But leaving the weak-willed and pliant Conyers and Reyes alone with the wiles of Rockefeller and his White House brothers-in-arms in these preliminary FISA negotiations is a cruel joke on the nation.

  Someone in his own party has to take Jay Rockefeller on, if his lust to except corporations from the rule of law in the name of "national security" is to be stopped. Jay Rockefeller is telling us he's going to take away our Constitutionally-protected rights for our own good. Pat Leahy, where the hell are you?

  Permalink Saturday, February 16, 2008 05:55 PM