Ladies and Gentlemen: We got her!
posted by etheberge
Senator Feinstein caved to political pressure from progressives and voted for a FISA bill without any immunity provisions for the telcos. Every Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also voted for the clean bill after an average of 175 calls per hour by constituents to Senator Reid's office, according to Democracy for America.
Quoted from a Dodd campaign email: "Retroactive immunity will, however, surely be introduced as an amendment to the FISA bill. If needed Senator Dodd will filibuster any amendment seeking to add retroactive immunity to the underlying bill. By filibustering, he will force the opposition to find 60 votes to pass the provision. It will be a lot more difficult for those who would enable the erosion of our Constitution to find the 60 votes necessary to stop immunity on its own than it would be for us to find the 40 needed to sustain a filibuster of the bill as a whole if it included immunity."
Chris Dodd really deserves credit for this unexpected turn of event since he's the one who got the ball rolling. Good things happens when you act with convictions.
For once the Democrats caved to the right people, their base. I am shocked.
