Murray Waas, has a new piece out in the Atlantic that doesn't look real good for the President Bush or his former Bushie AG---Alberto Gonzalez:

The Justice Department is investigating whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales created a set of fictitious notes so that President Bush would have a rationale for reauthorizing his warrantless eavesdropping program, according to sources close to the investigation. <>

In reauthorizing the surveillance program over the objections of his own Justice Department, President Bush later claimed to have relied on notes made by Gonzales about a meeting that had taken place the day before (March 10), in which Gonzales and Vice President Cheney had met with eight congressional leaders—also known as the “Gang of Eight”—who receive briefings about covert intelligence programs. According to Gonzales’s notes, the congressional leaders had said in the meeting that they wanted the surveillance program to continue despite the attorney general’s refusal to certify that it was legal.<>

But four of the congressional leaders present at the meeting say that’s not true; they never encouraged the White House to sidestep the objections of the attorney general and continue the program without his approval...read on

Forgeries for FISA....

The Seminal:

Jim Webb: With respect to legislation, what I, I think the blogs really communicate, in a very intelligent way, on a couple of these really complicated issues, I would hope they wouldn't lock themselves into positions so early, uh, there's some really complex pieces of legislation that kind of get boiled down...

Josh Nelson: Are you talking about FISA?

Jim Webb: Specifically I'm thinking about FISA since I have to vote on it tomorrow afternoon.

(laughter)

That's a very complicated issue and I've looked at it from every single angle that it can be looked at. Having had the black clearances that we were talking about, and at the same time I'm very strong on privacy rights. It's not an issue that is easy to boil down in the way a lot of the blogging community has boiled it down.

Audio embedded in the original post. I mean, of course the Fourth Amendment is so hard for us little bloggers to understand--anonymous unserious people that we are, (/snark) but is Jim Webb saying that the ACLU doesn't understand the issue?

Today's vote in the Senate approving FISA legislation was a huge blow to our country, our Constitution and our rule of law.  Twenty-six Democrats stayed true to democratic principles and voted against the bill, which grants immunity to telecommunication companies who betrayed the American people by illegally spying on our communications without warrants.

  Download | play   Download | play

One of the Democrats who voted correctly today was Senator Russ Feingold, who appeared on Wednesday's Countdown with Rachel Maddow. Feingold has long been a staunch advocate for following the Constitution, speaking out against President Bush's illegal wiretapping program and fighting and voting against the anti-American Patriot Act. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama voted for the FISA legislation, and while Feingold says there is hope that as president, Obama could change the unconstitutional aspects of the bill, it was still "the wrong vote."

Maddow: "It is heartening to hear your optimism on the prospect of Obama's presidency on this issue, but of course, his vote today led a lot of us who see this as a real abrogation of the fourth amendment to be very concerned."

Feingold:"Well, it was the wrong vote. Any Democrat that voted that way was not voting according to what people in the Democratic Party clearly want, but, you know, we'll pull together after the election, we'll lay the case out again."

This is Harry Reid's statement in FISA:

"The Senate will soon vote on a FISA bill that represents the final result of negotiations among the White House and Democrats and Republicans in Congress. I opposed the version originally passed by the Senate. And although improvements have been made in the version now before us, this legislation continues to contain provisions that will lead to immunity for the telecommunications companies who cooperated with the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless wiretapping program.

"For that reason, I will vote no.

read on...

The vote is coming today. Please continue to donate to Blue America's FISA page. We're still very active and spending your dollars wisely. And here's our full page ad in the Washington Post.

Blue America launches FISA Whip count call tool: Let them know!    

Check out the new full page Blue America ad placed in the Washington Post today. Thank you all so much for donating to our Blue America/FISA fund so we're able to get our message out far and wide. We believe in the Constitution and so should you! We also bought ads to run against Barrow and to support Regina Thomas in the upcoming GA-12 primary on July 15th. I'll write about that later. When Bush got together with Congress to grant retroactive immunity, that was just unacceptable to many of us.

Donate here to help elect better Democratic candidates to represent our values. Blue America has had great success so far. And you know, a major reason that Blue America exists is to push a progressive message into districts where it's never heard regardless if we win or lose a seat. We still win by getting that message out into the atmosphere.

Howie sez:

Almost 6,000 people have donated so far and we have run TV, radio, and newspaper ads in Chris Carney's Pennsylvania district, newspaper ads and patch-thru calls explaining to Steny Hoyer's constituents (and colleagues) his odious role in this massive betrayal of Democracy. ...we are running the following full page ad in the Washington Post and the day after we will explain our efforts to hold John Barrow (GA-12) accountable for his outrageously anti-American votes

Keep making your calls because the vote is coming tommorrow.

UPDATE: Here's Blue America's Andrew Rice:

"Congress must remain vigilant in order to protect Americans from another terrorist attack. However, the bill that is before Congress this week bargains away the privacy of law-abiding American citizens while protecting the companies that allegedly participated in the President's illegal wiretapping program. The Senate should stick to the narrow fix it set out to accomplish by making it clear that the government does not have to obtain a warrant to listen to foreign-to-foreign communications. Instead, this bill allows a significant expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that government can eavesdrop on the international communications of innocent American citizens. Since losing my brother on 9/11, I have vowed to improve America's anti-terrorism capability without sacrificing the freedoms that so many Americans have died to protect."
--- Andrew Rice, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, OK

(You can see the full page ad under the fold.)

Continue reading »

You spoke and we listened. You donated intensely and we are taking action. We've run ads and now we're hitting the phones. Blue America has just launched an interactive tool that will allow you to call your Senator and demand accountability on FISA.

Christy has more:

Blue America is launching a call tool today to help you get in touch with Senators regarding the FISA bill. We're trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone to talk with their Senators about the importance of standing up for the constitution, the rule of law -- and standing against telecom immunity.

We have been working hard to put together some tools to make your voice heard -- and there is more to come today.

This first tool allows you to directly contact Senators to tell them to stand up for the rule of law and vote in favor of the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment. (That's S.A.5064 to H.R. 6304 which will come up for a vote on July 8th, 2008.) Not only will this tool help you phone your Senators -- including connecting your call -- but it also gives us the ability to track positions on FISA given your input on what you ascertain during your conversations...read on

Digby and Howie also are part of the Blue America family and will have similar posts up soon. Glenn Greenwald has been a big part of this FISA fight also....We will not back down. Please make your voice heard. We're all taking part in the process...Thanks for the help.

Here's Howie's post...

Download | play   Download | play

Keith Olbermann presented Barack Obama with a few options on how to handle the pending FISA legislation in a Special Comment on Monday's Countdown.

Senator Obama had once said he was against giving immunity to telecom companies who assisted the Bush administration in illegally spying on American citizens, but more recently has said he would, in fact, vote for the FISA legislation, immunity included. As Keith points out, Obama has taken political hits from the right and the left and the right is going to attack him no matter how he votes, so he might as well do the right thing and demand telecom immunity be stripped from the bill. 

You've already taken the political hit from the Right, for saying you'd seek to strip out, or rescind immunity. You've already taken the political hit from the Left, for saying you'd vote for the FISA bill even with the immunity. You've paid the political price in advance.

Now buy yourself -- and those who have most ardently supported you -- something worth more than just class action suits against Verizon.

Explain that you are standing aside on civil immunity, not just for political expediency, but for a greater and more tangible good -- the holding to account, of the most-corrupt, the most dangerous, and the most anti-democracy presidential administration in our long history.

Of course, if you disagree with this interpretation -- if you think the FISA bill doesn't have the giant loophole, or if you don't think you, as president, would be ready to support criminal prosecution of... well, criminals -- then your duty is clear.

Vote against the FISA bill, if it still carries that immunity.

Full transcripts below the fold:

Continue reading »

Glenn Greenwald writes a post called : Keith Olbermann: Then and now.

Olbermann responds to Glenn here. 'Well, You Stumped Me'

Markos joins in Countdown:

MOULITSAS: Well, if that's the strategy, he has said nothing to indicate that and this is not the sort of thing that I think you have to keep quiet and secretive. I mean, if that's his strategy, he can say, "This is a bill that's flawed," but, really at the end of the day he has a chance to stand for the Constitution and to show that he will protect it against forces that seek to undermine it and he will show that he has, like I said before, that he is a leader and will take the mantle of leadership on this issue and take control of the Democratic Party. 

Glenn then continues: 

Markos -- who observed: "I don't think he's going to lose any support, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, it's either Obama or John McCain" -- nonetheless added:
I think what's at stake, though, is a lot of the intensity of support for Barack Obama. And he spent the last two years telling us how he's going to be the leader of the free world, not to mention the Democratic Party and this nation . . . . I don't want to hear him talk about leadership. I don't want to hear him talk about defending the Constitution; I want to see him do it.
That is precisely the point, and of course those who believe in defending core constitutional liberties shouldn't remain quiet when any politician -- including Obama -- takes actions to erode them 

John Dean clarifies a statement he made on KO's show here....

I gotta go with Glenn on this one...And Jane follows up with this:

It's also interesting to note that the tools created to help organize Obama supporters against his opponents are now being used to organize themselves to communicate with him. There's a new group on "MyBarackObama.com" called "Senator Obama -- Please Vote Against FISA." Stop by and tell the Senator that you'll be voting for him in November and hoping that in the meantime, he does the right thing.

Firedoglake: 

The FISA Cloture vote just passed. The Senate will now consider the motion to proceed with the bill, then they'll head to the bill itself (corrected procedural details, h/t and thanks to CBolt). Various motions will be put forward to strip immunity, odds are they will fail. Then a number of the 80 who voted to restrict debate will vote against FISA so they can say they were against the bill. However this was the real vote, and the rest is almost certainly nothing but kabuki for the rubes.

Obama and McCain were both absent, as was Clinton. Unimpressive, but unsurprising, though I suppose I'm disappointed by Clinton (Obama has made it clear he didn't intend to try and stop the bill.) Clinton and Obama will claim there was no point since it wasn't close. But, with their leadership, it might well have gone the other way.

Cenk Uygur and Ben Mankiewicz of The Young Turks interview Russ Feingold on how egregious all this FISA posturing is for Democratic values. 

Continue reading »

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who along with Russ Feingold has been the fiercest defender of Constitutional rights, took to the floor last night to deliver a two-hour impassioned speech in defense of the rule of law, and offered a scathing critique of the sham FISA bill about to become law.

Download | play Download | play

"Mr President, I had hoped that I would not have to come to the floor under these circumstances again. I've fought this with everything I have in me. Today we are being asked to pass the so-called compromise that was reached by some of our colleagues and approved by the other body, the House of Representatives. I'm here this evening to say that I will not and I can not support this legislation. This legislation goes against everyhting I've stood for, everything this body ought to stand for in my view."

I'm somewhat of a CSPAN junkie, but Dodd's sincere respect and concern for this country's sacred principles and his passionate defense last night of those principles was the most uplifting yet depressing thing I have ever seen; uplifting because it proved to me that there are leaders out there who still give a damn, but depressing because, with rare exceptions, he is alone. When the history of the Bush years is written and future generations look back and wonder how we sank so low, how an abject failure like George W. Bush successfully transformed our national character, at least we can look back to times like these and know that there were some true patriots sounding the alarm.

Glenn Greenwald sums up the floor speech thusly:

Continue reading »

Here's a quick update. There was a vote today on the floor in favor of cloture on the FISA bill 80-15, which means there will be 30 hours of debate on FISA. A lot is happening so please post about it in the comment section. Obama has fallen on the wrong side of the debate. It doesn't look good.

"The bill has changed. So I don't think the security threats have changed, I think the security threats are similar. My view on FISA has always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people."

Schumer has come out against FISA. Reid is obviously juggling a few bills at once and that is coming into play. This is from a rough transcript of a statement he gave on the Senate Floor yesterday announcing his opposition to the FISA bill:

Reid: I am not going to vote for the FISA bill. There are people, Mr. President, who have worked on this FISA matter for three months or more and again the Administration worked with them. Did they, on the FISA bill, move enough to make me vote for the bill? The answer is no.

Reid is joining Dodd and Feingold on their efforts to strip out immunity from the bill.

Blue America has placed some robo calls to Steny Hoyer's house on Telecom Immunity.

On Friday we told you about ads going up in the Washington Post that hold Steny Hoyer accountable for brokering this horrible bill, paid for by these donations. Today Color of Change and Blue America have robocalls going out to Hoyer's constituents, recorded by Reverend Lennox Yearwood who is from the district.

Emptywheel brings up some good points.

As you look at Reid's comments, remember that Reid is dealing with all three of these playing pieces, not just the one we're most focused on, FISA. And to the average American, the other two pieces are way more important than the FISA piece. As well-versed as I've become in FISA, frankly, I can't imagine telling my neighbors facing foreclosure that defeating immunity is more important than them keeping their house.

I'm just making an outtamyarse guess, but I'm guessing that Reid's delay comment last night may be tailored to get action on the housing bill, by holding the two things the Administration wants--FISA and the supplemental--hostage until a hold-out Republican and Bush agree to the housing compromise...read on

In the pages of "Drudge Daily"--better known as The Politico---they write a mind-boggling article on the FISA bill, Blue America and the hero role Hoyer played to get a bill passed for the minority party and Bush. Not even a mention as to why we're all so opposed to the bill. That's not important to the Drudge Daily.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) called the House bill a “capitulation.” Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald called Hoyer an “evil, craven enabler of the Bush administration.” Firedoglake.com blogger Jane Hamsher — delivering the lowest possible blow from the liberal blogosphere — declared Hoyer “the new Joe Lieberman.”

Hoyer knew it was coming, and he persevered anyway. That he did so speaks volumes about who he is: a master of cloakroom politics who can use his friendships across the aisle to strike deals, even if others demand that his party hew closer to the positions that put it in power in 2006.

It's better for Breshnahan and O'Conner to quote some comments of anger instead of dealing with the issue itself and why we are fighting back.  

Digby:

Do read the whole Politico article, which doesn't bother to spend even one paragraph describing why people were opposed to the bill. For that matter it doesn't bother to tell us why the other side was so adamant that it get passed either. The fact that it wasn't some typical congressional agenda item which might naturally be "horse traded" but rather a matter of fundamental constitutional principle, isn't worth mentioning. Even the fact that the whole thing stinks to high heaven of financial corruption gets no mention.

What we have instead is the portrait of a Village hero, the ultimate master of the only game that matters --- ostentatiously capitulating to conservatism. It's the biggest accolade a Democrat ever gets, like winning a congressional Oscar, and the preening Hoyer is happy to make his acceptance speech in the pages of the Drudge Daily. This one is sweeter than most because he managed to capitulate to the congressional minority and the most unpopular president in history on an issue of fundamental constitutional principle which contained little political risk to uphold. A truly bravura performance. In fact, it's worthy of a lifetime achievement award.

Donate here to Blue America's FISA Accountability fund so that we can continue to assure that Steny's constituents are aware of his great triumph.

We have raised $311,977.00 so far. That is amazing and the Villagers and Hoyer took notice. Do you think he liked to see his face in the pages of the Washington Post?

I know many readers were upset with Obama's response to the newly passed Hoyer/FISA bill that granted the Telecoms retroactive immunity. If he brings up an amendment to strip the immunity provision in the Senate next week and it fails--then--what's the point, right? Greg Sargent said "Why Obama's Support For FISA Cave-In Is Such A Downer."

MoveOn, who supported Obama during the primary fight has just issued a letter asking Obama to keep his word:

On Friday, House Democrats caved to the Bush administration and passed a bill giving a get-out-of-jail-free card to phone companies that helped Bush illegally spy on innocent Americans.¹

This Monday, the fight moves to the Senate. Senator Russ Feingold says the "deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation."² Barack Obama announced his partial support for the bill, but said, "It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses."³

Last year, after phone calls from MoveOn members and others, Obama went so far as to vow to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies."⁴ We need him to honor that promise.

Can you call Senator Obama today and tell him you're counting on him to keep his word? Ask him to block any compromise that includes immunity for phone companies that helped Bush break the law.

Obama's presidential campaign: (866) 675-2008

Then, help us track our progress by clicking here:

Sign the petition here.

Blue America Pac remarkably has raised over 300K so far. Please continue to join in...

Since we started our campaign to hold Steny Hoyer and other members of Congress accountable for conspiring with Bush against the Constitution, almost 5,000 patriotic Americans-- regardless of political party-- have donated to our drive. You've seen our thermometer rising and now it's approaching $300,000. Our first batch of advertising, including a full page ad in the Washington Post goes out next week.

Here's a sneak-peak at the Post ad: (click on above graphic to make larger)

None of the progressives who voted against Hoyer's disgraceful capitulation to Bush today will go on record advocating for a new Majority Leader and many of the candidates are too frightened to do so. There's even a cousinly split. The two House Udalls, Tom from New Mexico (the progressive one) and Mark from Colorado (the more establishment one), are each running for the U.S. Senate against rabidly right-wing Republicans. Mark (CO) voted with Hoyer, Bush, the Blue Dogs and the GOP to trash the Constitution. Keep it in mind when the DSCC send you an e-mail begging for money. The better Udall, Tom (NM) voted with us and had this to say to New Mexico residents:

The FISA bill we considered today would compromise the constitutionally guaranteed rights that make America a beacon of hope around the world. Today's vote was not easy. I stood up to leaders of my own party and voted against this bill, because I took an oath to defend Americans and That duty is most important when it is most difficult. We can protect our nation while upholding our values, but unfortunately, this bill falls short.

That sounds like real change. Mark? Not so much.

Yesterday we had an explosion of reactions from members of Congress and from our Blue America-endorsed candidates regarding what many people feel is a betrayal by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. I know that John would never brag about it but when Hoyer was fighting for the Majority Leader job, John was the loudest voice on the Internet in opposition, predicting... well, just the kind of thing that happened yesterday. Hit that link and read why respected congressional legal minds like Jerrold Nadler, Tom Allen Russ Feingold, and Chris Dodd are saying no to Hoyer's compromise capitulation. When I was in DC recently I ran into Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) and I congratulated him on finding a very nasty little loophole the Bush Regime had somehow inserted in some legislation when no one was looking. He beamed and was happy that someone knew about his efforts... and then told me his re-election was in jeopardy and asked for help from our PAC. "Congressman Welch," I said politely, you can't be in jeopardy when the Republicans can't even find a third-tier candidate to run against you." He laughed. He wasn't laughing today, though, when he explained why he would vote against the Hoyer-Bush plan to do grave violence to the Constitution:

“I simply do not believe any president, especially this president, should have unilateral or unchecked authority to conduct surveillance without judicial oversight. Congress has an obligation to protect our national security without sacrificing basic rights provided in our Constitution. “While this compromise reflects improvements over previous flawed proposals, it is a compromise I will not support. I have consistently opposed any legislation that grants retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping. Regrettably, this latest proposal fails to hold the administration and the companies accountable for their actions. The American people deserve to know exactly what happened and they deserve to know who is accountable. This bill fails that test."

Very polite but very much to the point. Peter Welch stands with the people of Vermont and the people of the United States, not with Bush, Hoyer and their big criminal campaign donors. Another member, who has asked to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons, just said this: "Steny Hoyer is the best friend money can buy." We'll see all the competition for the best friends money can buy during the vote today.

UPDATE: Blue America's John Hall speaks out against FISA:

Continue reading »