A Little FISA Action

Yesterday Senate Democrats put at least a temporary stop to the White House's push to expand warrantless wiretapping and grant immunity to telecom companies that freely gave over private information about customers to the government. By a vote of 48-45, an attempt to force a vote on the bill was rejected.

The thing that has amazed me most is that for all of the Republican hollering about how the bill needs to be voted on now, and how the current FISA provisions set to expire Friday must be extended or else we'll all die, a simple inclusion like a lack of immunity for massive telecom companies has managed to put them off enough so as to let the bill expire.

What, will it only save lives if giant corporations can't be sued? Honestly? This is a situation in which Republican hypocrisy is on clear, vibrant display. I'm not sure how this will finally end up, but Bush's imagined mandate for an ever-expanding set of executive powers has clearly come to an end. Whether it ever existed at all is another issue.