FISA In-Fighting

As most of you probably know, the updated FISA passed the Senate yesterday, 69-28-3. Leaving aside my and many others' outrage concerning the telecom immunity, it seems as if many people have picked up the wrong narrative for this story. Markos Moulitsas, who is usually correct in his political analysis, has been writing about this vote in terms of givings in to the President's demands. Now, before the liberal blogosphere gets in any more of a tizzy, a simple look at Senator Obama's stance on this bill should assuage any fears of a weak Democratic caucus.

Obama voted yea on all three amendments to modify the immunity clause. Dodd's, which struck the whole clause, failed 32-66-2. Specter's, which limited the scope of the immunity, failed 37-61-2. Bingaman's, which stayed immunity cases until 90 days after the Inspectors General report on FISA, failed 42-56-2. So there were 27 people who voted for that last amendment, but also voted for the final bill. While Obama's votes might have been more in tune with the party line, it seems as if he was not alone.

With regards to the 8 Democrats who couldn't even vote for Bingaman's bill, it is perhaps just that they are more conservative than the base would like them to be. The rest of the Democrats saw an imperfect bill that they would have liked amended, but they realized that this was the best compromise that would come out. As Senator Russ Feingold astutely pointed out yesterday, Obama does not support immunity, and electing him President would almost certainly help in restoring civil liberties to the American people.

So please, while dissent is good now and then, this election is way too important to let slip away. Party activists who say they are now not voting for Obama are only killing the Democrats' chances in November. It seems as if rational thinking has gone out the window, and every bill that passes with which Bush agrees is because the Democrats capitulated to "Mr. 28%." Don't think for a minute that the Democratic caucus is running scared. A diversity of opinions is what this country was founded upon. Perhaps it is that that the Democrats are exhibiting, and not some treasonous capitulation. It's high time that the Democratic Party base stop fighting with itself, and turn to focus its vitriol on Senator McCain.

PS: How did John McCain vote on FISA? He couldn't even bother to show up.