I’m not much of a joiner, but I just joined "Strange Bedfellows." This is a gathering–from the left and the right–of those who want to stop the FISA "compromise" Steny Hoyer has cooked up somewhere in the bowels of the Capitol with lobbyists from the telecom companies and the Bush administration’s worst enablers. Simply put, Hoyer’s compromise will offer a ridiculous fig leaf to the politicians who support it. In the compromise, a federal court will get to rule not on the legality of Bush’s reprehensible domestic spying (so reprehensible that many at the top of the Department of Justice were prepared to resign over it, though we still don’t know precisely what the "it" is, and if this compromise happens, we never will know), but rather will rule on whether the Bush administration offered written assurance to the companies that they should do what it said. So then it wasn’t Congress who gave them a free pass, see? It’s those courts, and who knew they’d rule in Bush’s favor? It’s beyond our control! This is what passes for brilliance in our nation’s capitol.
I feel so protected now!
Thank you, Mr. &*%$* Hoyer, for taking the only significant, highly successful anti-Bush stand in this Democratic Congress’ history and turning it into another complete rollover to Mr. 24%. I’m so proud.
And, lest you think this new coalition, announced yesterday, is just another bustle in the hedgerow:
The money will go to opposing the FISA compromise, and should it pass anyway, will go to home-district ads targeting Hoyer and some of his worst compadres.
Hope you’re noting this, Steny.
Donations here.
UPDATE: Glenn Greenwald has a copy of the new bill. It’s hard to express how bad this is. The Democrats who so recently stood down Bush’s fearmongering on FISA are now preparing to enshrine into law an "acceptable" version of what Nixon said when caught. The new version is: If the president writes down that it’s legal, then it’s legal.
Doesn’t Hoyer remember the Nuremberg Trials, in which it was established that following orders wasn’t adequate cover for wrongdoing? Oh, I forgot. That’s the September 10th mindset.
Out of nowhere, in order to make Democrats feel like they can’t be accused of being soft on terrorism, we move from Republic to dictatorship. Thank you, Mr. Hoyer. Fine legacy you’ve secured for yourself, your party and your nation.
I want my country back. You know, the one with the Bill of Rights and the protection against tyrants in the executive branch.
