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....

According to Glenn, and anyone who follows American politics, this is the Democrats' grand strategy: Give Bush everyone he wants so that the Republicans can't attack them as weak and spineless. How's that working out so far?

Salon:

Historians writing about the Bush era were given a great gift yesterday -- an iconic headline that explains so much of what has happened in this country over the last seven years:

Their rationale for doing that is that it prevents the Republicans from depicting them as "weak," because nothing exudes strength like bowing. Here's more evidence of the brilliance of the Democratic strategy to show how "strong" and "tough" they are by bowing to Bush and all of his demands, from this morning's New York Times article by Eric Lichtblau:

WASHINGTON — The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a major expansion of the government's surveillance powers, handing President Bush one more victory in a series of hard-fought clashes with Democrats over national security issues...

There comes a point when you have to wonder whether or not the Democrats actually support some of these disastrous bills they help usher through Congress. President Bush is the most unpopular President since the advent of polling, yet time after time they cave and give in to every one of his demands, despite overwhelming opposition to the policies he seeks. Save for the few in Congress who actually vote against these monstrosities, it's hard to deny that the majority of them actually think things like telecom immunity are a bad idea. After all, as we learned last week, it pays off.

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!    

Senator Feingold took to the Senate floor today and, with the help of Sen. Arlen Specter, challenged his colleagues to wrap their minds around what granting retroactive telecom immunity would mean for the rule of law, and wondered how they could be voting on such a thing when 70 members don't even have access to the evidence of alleged impropriety.

Download | play Download | play

"This is an amazingly inappropriate use of legislative interference, a push by this administration, and Senators should take a real hard look at whether they want to be associated with such an attack on the rule of law."

Glenn Greenwald has more:

Once passed by the Senate, the FISA bill will then immediately be sent by the Democratic Congress to an eagerly awaiting and immensely pleased President Bush, who will sign it into law, thereby putting a permanent and happy end to the scandal that began when -- in December, 2005 -- he was caught spying on the communications of American citizens in violation of the law. The only real remaining questions are (a) whether Bush will host Steny Hoyer and Jay Rockefeller at a festive, bipartisan White House signing ceremony to celebrate the evisceration of the Fourth Amendment and the rule of law, and (b) whether Bush, when he signs the bill into law, will append a signing statement decreeing that even its minimal restraints on presidential spying are invalid.

Extended version of Senator Feingold's remarks below the fold:

Continue reading »

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...

  The Nation:

Protesters are storming Barack Obama's website. But they all support Obama.

A grassroots group of activists has been organizing on MyBo, Obama's official social networking portal, to protest the Senator's recent decision to back controversial legislation granting the President more spying powers. The effort hit a big milestone on Tuesday afternoon: It is now the largest self-organized group on Obama's website, topping networks that were launched over a year ago. The spying protest, "Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right," launched last week. (See Obama Network Organizes and Revolts Over Spying, The Nation.)

Membership spiked to about 8,900 people on Tuesday, edging out a student group with roughly 8,600 members, and one organizer estimated that the growth rate reached a rapid four percent during the daytime. The group initially spread through the Obama network, since the site's platform instantly connects members through a dedicated email listserve. On Monday, for example, over 200 emails shot across the wire, reaching the roughly 2,300 members who opted to receive individual messages. The exchanges ranged from policy debates, like whether immunity was acceptable if the telephone companies acted in good faith, to organizing strategies, such as promoting the group on sharing sites like Digg. Then some activists open-sourced the project, creating a wiki-hub for additional actions -- from calling Obama's office to urging Keith Olbermann to promote the group -- and launched partner groups on other sites like Facebook.

"To reach number one, we're going to need all of us to start talking to - and emailing - their family and friends," wrote blogger Mike Stark in a missive to the group at 3:46am on Monday. "[Obama] said he'd open up government and respond to the people instead of the special interests," he added, "so let's force him to respond."

 You can join the Sen. Obama, Please Vote Against FISA Telecom Immunity here.

Boing Boing:

WTF?

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.

An analysis by LightMAP.org reveals that the 94 Democrats who changed their position on FISA since March are being flooded with donations from the companies who they now want to give a free pass. Shouldn't this be illegal or something?

Politico:

Dems who flipped on FISA immunity see more telecom cash

House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.

The 94 Democrats who changed their positions received on average $8,359 in contributions from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint from January, 2005, to March, 2008, according to the analysis by MAPLight, a nonpartisan organization that tracks the connection between campaign contributions and legislative outcomes. 

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 »

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?

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.

What is Obama's position on the newly passed FISA bill in the HOUSE? So far we're only getting silence. I contacted the campaign and I'm waiting for a quote. I believe that Nancy Pelosi is taking a hit for him. She's not telling anyone to support it, but explained why she voted for it. If she really believed in it---she would have urged her colleagues to vote for it, she did not. Here's the roll call.

If Obama is remaining quiet because he doesn't want to have to run against the Republican/FISA ads that would come out...well....that's wrong. He can't allow them to frame the debate and run the agenda in the general election. Americans are solidly against immunity for the Telecoms. It's his party now and he can easily lead on this issue against McCain by being the first one out of the gate against Telecom immunity, but stand strong for our national security. In the past Obama supported Chris Dodd's filibuster.

It's official: Obama will back a filibuster of any Senate FISA legislation containing telecom immunity, his campaign has just told Election Central. The Obama campaign has just sent over the following statement from spokesman Bill Burton:

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

That was huge at the time. McJoan writes:

Senator Obama, spoil Bush's FISA Christmas celebration. Remind your colleagues that he is a lame duck with a sub 30 approval rating. Remind your colleagues that they are far more popular with Republicans than with their own party.

Remind your colleagues that, in your own words, "The stakes are too high and the challenges too great to play the same old Washington games with the same old Washington players." Reject this bill and lead your Senate colleagues in upholding the Constitution.

Marcy Wheeler writes a letter to Obama:

Senator Obama, you are asking voters to choose you to become the President of the United States. You had to as Senator--and will as President--swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

You cannot remain silent on this issue and at the same time fulfill your promise, the one you have made, and the one you will make, to defend the Constitution. Remaining silent rejects the separation of powers. Remaining silent presumes that the "political branches" can simply legislate the Courts into submission. And remaining silent communicates that you--the next President of the United States--believes checks on executive power like habeas corpus and the Fourth Amendment are mere niceties and not foundational principles of this great nation.

As the presumptive leader of the Democratic Party, you can lead your fellow Senators in rejecting this unconstitutional law. But without your leadership, the Constitution will suffer a dangerous blow.

UPDATED 1: Obama has come out with a statement via Glenn Greenwald:

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .

After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. . . 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.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives -– and the liberty –- of the American people.

He says he will work to remove amnesty from the bill, but once that fails, will vote for the "compromise." Obama has obviously calculated that sacrificing the rule of law and the Fourth Amendment is a worthwhile price to pay to bolster his standing a tiny bit in a couple of swing states. The full Obama statement is here.

UPDATED 2: Digby says:

Roy Blunt and Steny Hoyer are practically tongue kissing on the floor right now and congratulating each other on their mutual fabulousness in negotiating the rape of the constitution this morning. It's quite a love fest.

--

Capitulating to the most unpopular lame duck president in history because they are afraid of him. Makes you proud to be a Democrat doesn't it...read on

UPDATE 3: Atrios names Obama: "Wanker of the Day "