Is he happy today?

Glenn,

Can the coalition use some of the money to get someone like Feingold to put a hold on this? Please?

I don't understand how placing an ad in the Washington Post targeting Representative Hoyer will accomplish anything. It will simply be dismissed as an attack on him based on a single issue. Mr. Greenwald has made the argument time and again that the issue is the clear failure of the entire Democratic party leadership to differentiate themselves and rise up to the rich and patriotic history of the party.

The real targets at this point are Obama and Pelosi. These are the leaders of the party, and it is they that share the shame of this bill. All I see in Obama now is someone looking to avoid a fight in order to preserve his horse-trading abilities later. I can't begin to express my rising disgust at both Pelosi and, more importantly, Obama. As I've noted in e-mails to both of their offices, and as Mr. Greenwaldwald mentions, if there is nary a Republican across the land that has anything bad to say about this bill, it must be exactly what they want which leads me to believe that the Democrats believe in exactly the same policies as the Republicans, and therefore I should just vote for those that are actually able to get the job done and get what they want, which are the Republicans. At this point the Democrats, led my Pelosi and Obama, are just carrying the Republican water.

This literally makes me want to wretch. Until someone shows some real leadership, they get nothing from me. Everything will go to BlueAct and taking these motherf*ckers down. I pity the next poor soul at the DNC who is unlucky enough to dial my number, cuz I'm going to rip them a new one.

These days I check salon.com solely for the purpose of following the fisa issue. Thank you for your dogged persistence in tracing the tracks of the players. Because of the information you've provided over the past months, and because of the most recent turn of events, I have made a conttribution. It makes me feel much better than sending in another letter to my Democratic representatives in Washington.

I heard Kit Bond on "Morning Edition" this morning. He said:

"When the government tells you to do something I think we all realize that's something you should, uh, do"

This man is my senator, and he's spouting perfect fascist rhetoric. I was never ashamed of America until the past seven years, and I've never been more ashamed to be an American than I have this week. Between the McClatchy stories about prisoner torture and this completely unnecessary Democratic capitulation to the Bush administration's demands for unlimited power to spy on American citizens I despair for the future of the U.S. I'm not sure even electing Barack Obama will do much to change the direction this country is going in. Will the citizens ever wake up from their media-induced bread-and-circuses coma to see what's going on? I'm afraid that they will wake up one day and realize that they're living in a totalitarian surveillance state. Will they then wonder how that happened? If they do they should point the finger at themselves.

@Paul

Please please for the love of all that is holy in this universe GO AWAY. Your beloved Hillary led the charge on the Democratic side to lead us into the Iraq war. She got all snuggly with Lieberman to declare how big and bad Iran (IRAN!) is. Her "leadership" is what lost her the nomination despite overwhelming support from the Democratic establishment and her ex-president husband.

If you're too stupid to see this, go hijack a thread over at the McCain board (I'm sure its hopping) and let us figure out how to really solve our problems. Your cult of personality is tiresome and not helpful.

Funny, I was just thinking that with Hillary out of the presidential race, she has plenty of time (and leftover energy) to lead on this issue.

Where is she? What is she doing about it? All I hear are crickets.

Perhaps she's working on another anti-flag-burning amendment, or ramping up to support another illegal, unjustified war.

Once again, my Senator -- whom I campaigned and voted for -- has let me and my country down. It's why I couldn't support her run for the presidency and why I'll support her Democratic challenger if she runs for re-election to the Senate.

The money raised at ActBlue and the ad campaign it'll fund is a start. But let's face it -- it's time for Steny to leave political life behind and assume his role as an Executive Vice President at Verizon or AT&T. His work in Congress is done and he'll be well-rewarded for it.

The real answer is to keep these bastards from getting their hands on the levers of power in the first place. Until a third party arises that is committed to representation of it's constituents, the progressive movement is doomed to fighting rearguard actions like FISA.

As sickened as I am with this FISA debacle--and the charade truly sickens me--I'm eager to see whether the ad campaign will get results.

Ideally, folks like Hoyer, Carney, Barrow--not to mention Pelosi--would inhabit an O.J. Simpson-like world.

These particular politicians should be ostracized by their districts, not representing them.

Just received this response to a letter I sent Obama:

Dear Bill,

Thank you for contacting me about the proposed legislation to give phone companies legal immunity for past wiretapping. I share both your strong opposition to this special interest provision and your frustration that the President and his supporters in Congress continue to push it. This fight is just one more example of why things in Washington must change.

I have consistently opposed this Administration's efforts to use debates about our national security to expand its own power, whether that was in regard to the conduct of the Iraq war or its restrictions on our civil liberties through domestic surveillance programs or suspension of habeas corpus. It is time to restore oversight and accountability in the FISA program, and rejecting this unprecedented grant of retroactive immunity is a good place to start.

Giving retroactive immunity to telecom companies is simply wrong. Thankfully, the most recent effort to pass this legislation at the end of the legislative year failed. I unequivocally oppose this grant of immunity and support the filibuster of it. I have cosponsored Senator Dodd’s proposal that would remove it from the current FISA bill and continue to follow this debate closely. In order to prevail, the proponents of retroactive immunity still have to convince 60 or more senators to vote to end a filibuster of this bill. I will not be one of them.

This Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. When I am president, there will be no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens; no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime; no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. Our Constitution works, and so does the FISA court. By working with Congress and respecting our courts, I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

Thank you again for contacting me. I look forward to continuing to wage this fight.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

There is no mention of the current disaster, however, which makes the letter somewhat weird. I hope that he will indeed be part of a filibuster. But, once again, where is he in public?