Yeah yeah yeah. We all know how "concerned" Joan Walsh is.

http://salonparody.blogspot.com/

One of the worst possibilities at any national election is to end up with the President and Congress being pwned by the same party. They are all craven politicians to start with, but at least opposing parties can slow each other down.

With this cave-in to the nonsensical idea that he has to look tough, Obama has removed any reason to vote for him. He has shown himself to have no more backbone than any other power mad politician. He might be a better choice than McCain in a vacuum, but not in the context of a Democratic Congress. If he is going to sell out his principles this easily, this early in the campaign, then I see such a miniscule difference between the two that having a president in the opposite party outweighs the increased lack of morals.

Go to hell, Obama. My vote in CA probably won't make a white of difference in who gets the electoral votes, but I will not reward your cowardice with my vote.

I emailed BO today stating what he did is unforgivable. He has illustrated everything I've come to hate about politicians and especially disingenuous politicians. I believe there are still choices: don't vote the President, vote the independent, or better yet raise bloody hell at the convention. There is no doubt in my mind that BO's flip on FISA was calculated to gain right wing support while sticking his finger in the eyes of every progressive who supported him over the past two years.

I just don't get it: why Democrats bend over every time Republicans cry security. Could it be that most of the Dems in Congress are covert right wing ideologues? I think so.

Some remaining ObamaBOT will say that Hillary voted against the FISA capitulation just to make Obama look bad in contrast. It's all a plot! Hillary plans to steal the election. The diabolical bitch is hurting Obama by voting against the FISA compromise and she shouldn't have done so if she really supports him. She should be on the same page as him instead of making him look non-progressive by actually voting to protect the Fourth Amendment. Forget the Fourth Amendment Hillary! Stop making Obama look bad! You are hurting him! Stop hurting him! Stop hurting our symbolic "baby seal"!

Evil, calculating Hillary Clinton.

"Everything she does is planned."

(Except her recent Nay on the FISA capitulation, which seems to represent a mysterious change of heart, which we can parse forever, building new scenarios of nefarious Clinton calculation.)

Shame on you, Joan Walsh, for drawing an unfavorable comparison between Obama and Clinton. You are still shilling for Clinton. By God, you are positively fluffing her.

Resign as editor of Salon immediately!

Some remaining ObamaBOT will say that Hillary voted against the FISA capitulation just to make Obama look bad in contrast.

If you were so certain that this would happen, then why did you spoil it by jumping the gun and saying it first yourself?

You shouldn't call Clinton a "bitch." That's not your prancing perogative.

BTW, not ONE single Republican stood up against the ridiculous FISA bill. Not one. Specter talked tough, but as always, caved.

That's the devil I know all too well.

p.s. AKA, I'm glad Hillary voted the way she did, the same with Dodd, Boxer, Feingold, etc.

I'm beyond disappointed that Pelosi and Reid seem to not be able to manage their majorities to the point of not even being to set the agendas in their control. I must say that a Republican minority is so much more effective than the Dems ever were as a minority..and now still manage to be in control.

Not one Republican in the Senate....

But give it up, Joan. We're BEGGING you. Hillary lost. And like she wouldn't have voted for the FISA bill. Please. Her vote against it today meant nothing, and you know it.

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PS -- I'd have felt better about Salon's coverage of Senator Obama's sell out of abortion rights if you hadn't published that propaganda piece by Kate Michelman and Frances Kissling which had no mention of Senator Obama's waffle... and then when you post an update by Michelman addressing the waffle, you *BURIED* it in Broadsheet instead of making it it's own independent article which might have hung out on them main page for more than an hour. Now it gets a few words in your blog. Gee, thanks for nuthin' - good to know women's issues still belong on the back of the bus and under it.

@AnnieW: I am inclined to agree with you that Obama is still the easy choice - a candidate who just trampled on the 4th amendment. How sad.

Still 1 thing comes to mind that could make things very interesting. IF McCain did win, would we find ourselves facing some inevitable constitutional crisis where he tries to push the unitary executive power to the limit and the devastated Dems use everything they can to try to balance the power?

Wanting to vomit at Obama for flip-flopping on FISA is not nit-picking; it is what is called *taking a principled stand.* We all know politicians are morally elastic, but every once in a while, one of them does something so egregious, it exposes the rotten underbelly of the system in a way that only fools can mistake what they are seeing. We've been swallowing shit for a long time, but everyone has a breaking point - millions have found theirs with FISA.

The betrayal is disgusting on multiple levels. It is bad because he got our hopes up that he would be a different kind of leader. It's also bad because it is an immoral and unconsitutional vote, that serves political interests, but not the people. It's bad because it is unnecessary, as the current FISA protections are just fine.

You can make the argument that we should vote for Obama because McCain is even worse. That's where I'm at now - I don't feel enthusiastic about supporting him, but I will because the alternative is worse.

To pin this protest on the left demonstrates how fat, lazy and ill the press and level of discourse in America is. This is not an issue that belongs to the left or right, whatever the fuck those terms even mean any more. It is an issue that belongs to anyone who cares about the truth, justice and the Consititution.

Obama used to teach consitutional law for a major university. It is bad for so many reasons, it makes me want to give up on the political process altogther. But I fight that feeling, because disinterest and apathy is how they win.

Rather than being concerned about 'nitpicking,' you should be encouraged that millions of people still care passionately about the philosophies that led to perhaps the greatest system of government and the most just laws yet devised.

Ultimately, Barack Obama is not the progressive movement. He is not truth, or justice. That is something each of us can breathe into life, to keep alive through our words and our actions. The Democrats betrayed core principles on FISA; however, it's our failing if we place our trust in them to act justly. That is our job, not just to vote every four years, but to act, constantly and passionately, to embody the principles we stand for.

That is the spirit that Obama awakened four years ago with his remarkable speech. That he himself cannot fully live up to it shows that we can't depend on him, or anyone else, to be the spirit of the law. That is our job, vox populi.