Hold Fast

The Senate will resume its debate of FISA reform legislation today.
Right now, Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate are trying to negotiate the path forward. They might try to pass a short extension to the Protect America Act (possibly less than 30 days). Also under negotiation is how many amendments will be allowed to […]

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In searching for a recent post on RedState’s monumentally successful (?) fundraiser, I found this piece of stupidity from front pager Moe Lane. Lane, apparently incensed by Dodd’s references to the defense offered by Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, tries to do some logical jiu-jitsu and ends up falling flat on his face.
In case you’re […]

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Stirling Newberry of The Agonist has a response post to Bush’s State of the Union that infinitely exceeds anything I saw last night from Democratic elected officials and candidates. Newberry’s post is really an early history of the impact Bush has had on America and America’s standing in the world.  To call it damning would […]

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I’m off to a State of the Union watch party. Last year, I posted a copy of Patrick Bateman’s State of the Union style speech from American Psycho at my old blog, Emboldened. Take a peek if you aren’t satisfied with our non-fictional sociopath’s speech tonight…

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Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker has a rundown on what we should expect next from Congress as the sunset of the PAA approaches later this week.
Up until now, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had refused to entertain any such scenario. It was part of the Senate Republican-administration tag-team squeeze play. But in remarks today, […]

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The Republican Party just defeated cloture on the 30 day extension to the Protect America Act by a vote of 48-45. 60 votes were needed to win. The full roll call for the vote is here.
As a result, there is a good chance that the PAA to sunset on February 1st. This will likely only […]

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This is very good, if somewhat expected, news.
The Senate just defeated cloture on the bad Intelligence committee bill. The bill needed 60 votes, but only received 48 in favor, with 45 opposed. The full roll call is here.
New votes opposing the Intel bill:
Obama
Bayh
Rockefeller
Clinton
McCaskill
Inouye
Johnson
Specter
Carper
Salazar
Mikulski
Senators Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, and Mary Landrieu all continued to vote against […]

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OK, I’ll be honest. I got myself a serious Dodd/FISA jones going right now, so I just re-read his full speech from Friday for the umpteenth time in anticipation of him speaking again from the floor shortly. Here’s another passage that I haven’t yet pulled out, but think is a phenomenally sharp assessment of where […]

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Last week I argued that the Senate Republicans had gone too far in their obstructionism on FISA, to the point that they were alienating their Democratic allies who have joined them on the wrong side of retroactive immunity and warrantless wiretapping. In effect, the GOP went beyond the pale and offended senators who want to […]

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This is from last Friday’s speech and Senator Dodd is expected to speak shortly, but I still think this line is worth highlighting:
The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security.
And that ought to be the epitaph for […]

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