FISA, Again

Here's Digby on Harry Reid's determination to ram Bush's FISA bill through the Senate. Here's the post by Glenn Greenwald that she's working from, with the money quote:

To do so, Reid announced that, unlike for the multiple filibusters from Republican colleagues, he would actually force Dodd and company to engage in a real filibuster. This is what Reid said:

[I]f people think they are going to talk this to death, we are going to be in here all night. This is not something we are going to have a silent filibuster on. If someone wants to filibuster this bill, they are going to do it in the openness of the Senate.

That is what Democrats have been urging Reid to do to the filibustering Republicans all year -- in order to dramatize their obstructionism -- but he has refused to make them actually filibuster anything, generously agreeing instead that every bill requires 60 votes. Instead, he reserves such punishment only for the members of his own caucus trying to take a stand for the rule of law and the Constitution, those who are trying finally to bring some accountability to this administration.


Reid's leadership in the Senate has been nonexistent, and I'm really tired of his pandering to the Republican minority -- did you hear that, Harry? MINORITY. I really wonder how many contributions his campaign fund has gotten from telecoms and their lobbyists and employees. It would be interesting to see those figures.