[first post 10/18/07]
Update: The Judiciary Committee delayed marking up the FISA reform bill at the request of Republicans. The delay sets up a confrontation just before the Thanksgiving recess between conservatives supporting protection for telecommunication companies cooperating with the Regime's massive domestic spying program and those backing citizens' privacy rights. Chairman Leahy, Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy and other Democrats on the Judiciary committee oppose retroactive immunity for the telecoms and will attempt to strike the language next week. But two Democrats on the panel — Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) — voted for the Intelligence Committee bill with the immunity provisions. It is Democrats like these who prevent the Party from mounting an effective resistance to the dangerous policies of the most unpopular President in our history. Feinstein is distinguishing herself by repeatedly helping the neocons erode the founders' principle of co-equal branches. She cast a pivotal vote to forward the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to the full Senate where it's consent to appointing him Attorney General is expected. Mukasey refused to say the Regime's "enhanced interrogation" techniques--including waterboarding--constituted torture. Without her vote, the nomination would have gone to the floor without a committee endorsement. These so-called "Democratic" Senators need to hear from their constituents who still believe in the Bill of Rights.