Is that a Cave?

Tomorrow may be the day that Congress acts on the surveillance law that was given a 15 day extension last week. For my most recent update from last week on the status of the FISA legislation, see A Fix for FISA?. The above video gives a short lesson as to what's at issue. Keith Olbermann also provides one of his Special Comment's On FISA and Telecom Immunity (via Crooks & Liars).

The big issue is whether telecoms get retroactive immunity for spying on us, after all. This would ensure that we'll never know the truth about how far the Bush Administration went in trampling our constitutional rights. The likelihood is that they win (big surprise). As Paul Kiel describes it, Talking Points Memo:

So, after all that, after all the back room offers and counteroffers and fear-mongering and delaying, the Senate has finally struck a deal on the surveillance bill, and everyone has agreed to it, including Sens. Dodd and Feingold, so there should be no filibustering this time around. They'll get to voting on it all on Monday.

Most crucially, the Dodd/Feingold amendment, which would strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms from the bill, will only need 51 votes to pass. The same goes for the related Specter/Whitehouse amendment, which instead of offering immunity to the telecoms, would replace the federal government as the defendant in all the lawsuits.

Glenn Greenwald provides the detailed analysis, The Senate's FISA agreement. Steve Benen of The Carpetbagger Report explains the impact of this "deal," The stage is set for the showdown over FISA, telecom immunity:

Keep in mind, there are some differences of opinion about whether this landscape is encouraging or not, and regrettably, two people I look to for guidance disagree with one another — McJoan believes the deal going into Monday offers us hope; Glenn Greenwald does not.

Doesn't look good. As Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake said, Dems Capitulate on FISA:

Dodd agreed to Unanimous Consent regarding the time limits to debate various amendments. Dodd will get up and talk about retroactive immunity, but this agreement limits what he can do to stop things from going forward.

As Greenwald describes it, it sounds like a cave:

It seems rather clear what happened here. There are certain amendments that are not going to get even 50 votes -- including the Dodd/Feingold amendment to strip telecom immunity out of the bill -- and, for that reason, Republicans were more than willing to agree to a 50-vote threshold, since they know those amendments won't pass even in a simple up-or-down vote.

But then, there are other amendments which might be able to get 50 votes, but cannot get 60 votes -- such as Feinstein's amendment to transfer the telecom cases to the FISA court and her other amendment providing that FISA is the "exclusive means" for eavesdropping -- and, thus, those are the amendments for which the GOP insisted upon a 60-vote requirement.

The whole agreement seems designed to ensure that the GOP gets everything they want -- that they are able to defeat all of the pending amendments which Dick Cheney dislikes, and to do so without having to engage in a real filibuster. In what conceivable way is this an instance of "Dems not caving" or "holding tough?"

Damn those Dems. Although, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. I think Daniel Schorr's prediction is on target, Daniel Schorr Predicts Bush Will Pardon Telcom Companies:

In his State of the Union address, President Bush asserted “a solemn duty to prevent the terrorists carrying out their plans.” And that, he said, meant liability protection for companies that have cooperated with the eavesdropping program. Well, I can imagine Mr. Bush, if nothing else avails, issuing a blanket pardon for phone companies that may have broken the law. I can see these backstage battles spinning on for the rest of the President’s term.

(Listen here: NPR)

We may have to hide in a cave to prevent Big Brother Bush from listening in.

Then of course, we have PA's own, Senator Spector. What's his position on the issue? Who knows, because he's busy with other spying issues. As John Morgan of the Pennsylvania Progressive put it, Specter V. Goodell Super Showdown:

Of all the issues facing the United States Senate, politicization of the Justice Department, lying the country into war, outing a CIA agent, wiretapping American citizens, the torture of prisoners, Gitmo, all of the really, really important things Arlen Specter could be doing, what is he doing? Getting into a pissing contest with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over cheating in football, the NFL's disrespecting him by not replying to a letter and then not getting him coveted tickets to tomorrow's game.

Wow, it's nice to know what his priorities are.

You should hang your head in shame, Arlen.