Glenn Greenwald: Obama's vote in favor of cloture, in particular,

[chill_wind]

cemented the complete betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the Democratic nomination. Back then, Obama's spokesman -- in response to demands for a clear statement of Obama's views on the spying controversy after he had previously given a vague and noncommittal statement -- issued this emphatic vow:

To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

.

But the bill today does include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. Nonetheless, Obama voted for cloture on the bill -- the exact opposition of supporting a filibuster -- and then voted for the bill itself. A more complete abandonment of an unambiguous campaign promise is difficult of imagine. I wrote extensively about Obama's support for the FISA bill, and what it means, earlier today.

Obama voted along with all Republicans for cloture. 26 other Democrats voted against.

Full scale capulation of the participating Dems......

Today, the Democratic-led Senate ignored those protests, acted to protect the single most flagrant act of Bush lawbreaking of the last seven years, eviscerated the core Fourth Amendment prohibition of surveillance without warrants, gave an extraordinary and extraordinarily corrupt gift to an extremely powerful corporate lobby, and cemented the proposition that the rule of law does not apply to the Washington Establishment.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa_vote/index.html

[mmonk]

1. This part seems very eye opening.

-snip-


What is most striking is that when the Congress was controlled by the GOP -- when the Senate was run by Bill Frist and the House by Denny Hastert -- the Bush administration attempted to have a bill passed very similar to the one that just passed today. But they were unable to do so. The administration had to wait until Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Congress before being able to put a corrupt end to the scandal that began when, in December of 2005, the New York Times revealed that the President had been breaking the law for years by spying on Americans without the warrants required by law.


-snip-

[Olney Blue]

3. I thought we were different.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

[mmonk]

5. We are. Hastert and Frist couldn't pass it for him.

[Hydra]

2. The damage from this mishap is extensive

And simply reinforces the idea that Bush is in control, not the Dems.

[chill_wind]

4. Obama is a Constitutional Lawyer-- and yet....

These are just facts -- facts about Barack Obama, the FISA bill he supports and which the Democratic Congress will approve today. Recall that James Comey testified last year that what he and other DOJ officials learned in 2004 about Bush's spying activities for the several years prior was so extreme, so unconscionable, so patently illegal that they all -- including even John Ashcroft -- threatened to resign en masse unless it stopped immediately. We still have no idea what those spying activities were. We know, though, that even the right-wing DOJ ideologues who approved of the illegal "Terrorist Surveillance Programs" that we know about found those activities indisputably illegal and wrong. But Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress will today enact a bill to immunize all of that, to protect the lawbreakers who were responsible.

Glenn Greenwald
Wednesday July 9, 2008

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa/index.html

(bold emphasis mine)

As an unabashed Obama supporter (how I gushed over his Constitutional lawyer creds) and campaign contributor, I'm having a lot of trouble reconciling his words and his actions on this critical issue.

[Supersedeas]

9. same here

[followthemoney]

6. Can we all just stop play acting all this anger?

I know most Democrats really love Bush. Sure, we have said some bad things about him, but that's just politics. No harm done.

It's just about winning and when the game is over all will give up the pretense and get along like a couple of kids in the play yard. Five minutes after all the bawling is done it's time to play again and that five minutes might as well have been two weeks ago.

Bush is not running for president so that 23% approval rating is so out of place and inappropriate. It's time we move on and pretend we hate somebody else now. Like Iran. That could work.

But leave Bush alone. He has really been a great president and that dirty old rag of a constitution doesn't deserve a second glance.

It's time to get behind the Democratic leadership and make friends with Bush. I'm sure he'd forgive us if only we'd ask. Let's all pitch in to make his last few months the happiest so he can leave office with good memories.

I think I am being ironic. Irony is so hard to distinguish these days.

[LVjinx]

7. Yea, hard to distinguish. These days DUers post right wing talking points without shame or regret.

Mostly the same people who were bragging about their progressive credentials and strong character just a few months ago. So yes, irony is hard to distinguish anymore.

[chill_wind]

10. Are you referring to this thread? Could you be more specific?

eom

[Fumesucker]

12. Yes, the right wing is sooooo concerned about turning the Constitution into bumpf.. n/t

[Pastiche423]

8. I am glad this vote came before November

It frees up money to spend against those that are against our Constitution.

[crickets]

11. Glenn Greenwald has been all over this -

and I'm going to have to stop with "thanks, Glenn" and "thanks, chill_wind." Even though we all saw today's vote coming, it's just too upsetting. If I got started... yeah. Anyway, others have covered it tonight better than I could. K&R

[merh]

13. And for another view - something worth reading

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6473419

And please don't miss this thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3586356

[chill_wind]

14. The cloture vote--even Harry Reid voted no. Are people getting this?

Obama Retreats From Key Progressive Issues

By John Nichols and Roberto Lovato, TheNation.com and Of America. Posted July 10, 2008.


While most Senate Democrats -- including New York Sen. Hillary Clinton -- opposed the FISA rewrite and voted to keep the debate open, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president sided with the Republicans in saying that the essential Constitutional questions raised by this legislation did not merit extended or thoughtful debate.

(...)

The "no" votes on cloture were cast by Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders and 25 Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Obama's Democratic colleague from Illinois, and Clinton, Obama's primary competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Leading the fight to keep the debate about the FISA rewrite open were Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd and Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, the two senators whom Obama promised earlier this year to work with in an effort to block this assault on the Constitution and corporate responsibility.

(...)

Unfortunately, while Obama once promised to work with Feingold, he wasn't listening on Wednesday when the Wisconsin senator explained to his colleagues that granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications corporations would effectively block the ability of Congress and the courts to address not just massive corporate wrongdoing but attacks on the privacy rights of Americans.

"If Congress short-circuits these lawsuits, we will have lost a prime opportunity to finally achieve accountability for these years of law-breaking," said Feingold. "That's why the administration has been fighting so hard for this immunity. It knows that the cases that have been brought directly against the government face much more difficult procedural barriers and are unlikely to result in rulings on the merits."

more: http://www.alternet.org/election08/90990/?ses=7723ccee128ebcda8f6fe587590f842e

Why? WHY?

It's NOT just the bill itself, of which these is plenty enough discussion---it's this action on top of it that no one here is talking about.

[chill_wind]

15. For the record.

Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on H.R. 6304 )
Vote Number: 167 Vote Date: July 9, 2008, 02:17 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to
Measure Number: H.R. 6304 (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 )
Measure Title: A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes.




Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---72

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)

NAYs ---26

Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 2
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)

http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00167

[Tyler Durden]

16. When EVERY RePuke votes for ANYTHING...

Then when I think of a Democrat voting with them...I smell a rat.

On second thought, that's a slur on rats everywhere.