Look at this, from Morningstar--a major financial news publication. It has the effect of blowing the "All Clear" signal to the business community. Excellent quotes, including the one you asked about. Good stuff.

FISA Deal Will End Court Cases Vs Phone Cos - GOP Lawmakers

http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200806191650DOWJONESDJONLINE000937_univ.xml

Who needs Republicans?

Maybe Little Boots will make Barney a Congressman. Other than for the minor ethical/intellectual improvement, nobody would notice.

Does anyone have a link to this?

Here's the link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91703618

Please provide your "unbiased source" for your claims that the Bush family has strong ties to the Saudi's and the Bin Ladens? Michael Moore doesn't count either ;-)

The Democrats are not capitulating because they don't want to look soft on terror. The Democrats are capitulating because whatever will come out in the lawsuits will incriminate Democrats. I didn't think of it before it was explicitly cited on Countdown last night by a Professor of Law at GWU. Before then, I really couldn't understand the calculation. It is manifestly not the case that fighting FISA is a political liability even in conservative districts. And I for one can't see how Democrats would so thrash their base at such an important time, when enthusiasm is so key to their prospects, merely for the Telecom benefactors. What hadn't occured to me, is that they are simply protecting their own, as is Obama with his sposorship of the blue dog Dem in Georgia. Now it makes all the sense in the world, if you consider that the organizing principle of Democrats and politicians in general is to protect their turf at the public trough. What wonderful people politicians are.

Of course, I'm no less depressed for the revelation, but at least I'm less puzzled.

... I don't have to change the entry for "bipartisan" in my Newspeak dictionary

http://dailydoubt.blogspot.com/2005/08/new-american-newspeak-dictionary.html

"Bipartisan: agreeing to do what conservatives want done; not to be confused with two sides of a political dispute compromising to come to a mutually beneficial position"

I love how American political discourse works. Republicans can be as fiercely partisan and non-compromising as they like. They can impeach the president over a trivial manufactured scandal. Democrats, on the other hand, in the midst of the most unpopular and already regarded by historians as the worst presidency in US history which is now close to a lameduck stage still need to act in a "bipartisan" manner to help the president break our laws.

No wonder the slow drift on American discourse continues to shift ever "right." Ideologues are rewarded for being ideologues because the center is continually redefined as halfway between the ideologue and the non-ideologue.

The only valuable lesson from this debacle is that there are two Democratic Parties, with increasingly little in common.

The Democratic leadership in Congress, particularly Hoyer, Rahm Emmanuel, Jay Rockefeller and other DLCers, sold us out for immunity -- their own, in addition to that of the telecoms -- and for domestic additions to the war funding bill such as increased funding for the unemployed and educational benefits for veterans that they should have been able to pass with a veto-proof majority on their own merit. Failing that, they could have waited until after the next election. That they didn't signals they may be as nervous as the Republicans about what's to come.

They represent one Democratic Party, the party of the Clintons and the DLC. The other is led by Howard Dean, Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold and their allies, and they haven't been shy in criticizing this horror. Obama is their candidate, for better or worse, but don't expect much from him. He's too busy building a "unity" party to win the election. This is where the old saying about politics and sausage comes in.

Abandoning the Democratic Party for tiny, underfunded, inept fringedwellers like the Libertarians and the Greens will only ensure the resurgence of the Republicans. There are many groups devoted to the reform of the Democrats that deserve attention and support. Dean's Democracy For America, MoveOn.org, TrueMajority and Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriot's Fund are all working to elect Democrats that won't barter away or simply desert our Constitutional principles. It's been a hard fight but we've come a long way already. We just have further to go.

It's been predicted since at least 2005 that Bush's worst excesses would come in the last year (we hope) of his presidency. It's happening now, with this and the Iraqi defense and oil "agreements," in the summer, after a major disaster, when the people's attention is elsewhere.

Keep the pressure on, keep working to elect good people and push them to do what's right. Keep weighing the alternatives and come up with new approaches and ideas. Listen to the real leaders instead of agonizing over those who have never represented us. Don't throw your vote away. Make it, and your money, count.

don't give me this nonsense about 'where's hillary'.

-- paul_lukasiak

You can't possibly believe what you wrote. Hillary is just a clone of Obama so she can't talk now? Geebus Cripes! Talk about making excuses for someone.

I just spoke to Congressman Carson's office and asked how he planned to vote on the FISA legislation. According to the woman who answered, he plans to listen to the debate and then decide. I asked her to please, please, please urge him to vote against it, to hold Bush and the telecoms accountable for breaking the law, and to stand up for the Constitution. Technically, Carson isn't my Congressman, but I work in his constituency. Besides, my Congressmen is a die-hard Republican (Dan Burton anyone?) and is, I'm sure, more than happy with this so-called "compromise."

I also sent Evan Bayh a lengthy email, although he's pretty much a lost cause. I think he voted for the previous Senate bill.

I wish I could say I'm surprised by the way this is going, but I'm not. It seems the only thing Democrats can be counted on to do, is surrender. As another poster suggested, I'm going to start calling them "White Flag Democrats."