FISA: You Are Falling for the Right Wing's Trap.

[ContinentalOp]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/22/154532/464/756/540290

Yes, the FISA bill stinks. No, we shouldn't protect corporations. I agree. Yes, it's not a "compromise" at all -- I agree, it's a capitulation to the White House and the Right Wing.

Of course it is. The Right Wing designed it that way. They set a trap. But it's not just the Democratic leadership that fell into it -- many of you all did, too, through your quickness to weaken your support of Obama, if not abandon him entirely.

I don't believe for a second that Obama wants illegal wiretapping. Remember: if he was President, this wouldn't be an issue. The man taught Constitutional Law, we know he knows what the document says.:

Personally I'd rather have the clear statement calling Bush an illegal wiretapper (you caught that, right? The part where he clearly accuses Bush of breaking the law?) and avoid ten media cycles of "Obama -- Calling Osama?!" Because here's the sad reality: more people will be swayed by those media reports than by our collective blog posts.

[Junkdrawer]

1. This bill has Reid, Rockefeller, Pelosi and Hoyer written all over it...

People keep pretending we're back in the days when Republicans ran the Congress. They don't.

This bill is all about hiding the complicity of the Democratic Leadership in the CRIMES of the Bush Administration.

[Andy823]

3. Yep!

The dems who helped this all happen are covering their own ass, that's obvious, and it should send a loud clear message that we need to get rid of them as the leaders of congress, and when the come up for re-election, they should be voted out of office!

[FrenchieCat]

2. I agree that there is no principle in losing an election.

In addition, the MSM is silent about FISA for the time being....yet they damn well know that the blogs have been on fire about this issues since Friday. So the silence means something. the question is what? I smell strategizing going on over there on the RightWing side of things on this; strategizing how to capitalize on this disagreement on the left vs. Obama. I'm sure they are rubbing their hands with glee. :(

[CakeGrrl]

4. If Obama votes "No", they'll say he's weak on terror. If "Yes", they'll say

he can't keep his own party behind him - and they'll use the "I won't give Obama any more of my money" comments from Democrats as proof that his 'support is weak'.

:grr:

[atreides1]

5. This is the Reality

This is the law that a President Obama or a President McCain will inherit:


• H.R. 6304 permits the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing.

• H.R. 6304 permits only minimal court oversight. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) only reviews general procedures for targeting and minimizing the use of information that is collected. The court may not know who, what or where will actually be tapped.

• H.R. 6304 contains a general ban on reverse targeting. However, it lacks stronger language that was contained in prior House bills that included clear statutory directives about when the government should return to the FISA court and obtain an individualized order if it wants to continue listening to a US person’s communications.

• H.R.6304 contains an “exigent” circumstance loophole that thwarts the prior judicial review requirement. The bill permits the government to start a spying program and wait to go to court for up to 7 days every time “intelligence important to the national security of the US may be lost or not timely acquired.” By definition, court applications take time and will delay the collection of information. It is highly unlikely there is a situation where this exception doesn’t swallow the rule.

• H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever it gathered in the meantime.

• H.R. 6304 ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the telecommunication companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping programs over the last 7 years. The test in the bill is not whether the government certifications were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that they were, all the cases seeking to find out what these companies and the government did with our communications will be killed.

• Members of Congress not on Judiciary or Intelligence Committees are NOT guaranteed access to reports from the Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, and Inspector General.


And all it takes to get telcos off the hook is a note from the President.

It's a bad law and Senator Obama should vote against it on principle!

[ToeBot]

6. And it wasn't a Republican trap, the Democrats chose to bring it up now.

If anything, the Democratic congressional leadership waited until the Presidential nomination was decided precisely to keep the issue from becoming too contentious. Had they revived the debate sooner the outcome would not have been assured - one or both of the candidates would have been forced to interfere. Now that the "loud-mouthed left" can safely be ignored, they brought it to the floor. They could have stalled this or ignored it. It's a completely unnecessary piece of legislation.