Legal scholar Jonathan Turley was a guest on Countdown last night (watch the MSNBC video here), where Turley concluded to Keith Olbermann that the FISA immunity compromise now happening is most likely because top Dems themselves fear retribution for their complicity in Bush's illegal spying activities.
Jonathan Turley makes the point that several years ago, certain top Dems were intimidated by Bush into quietly going along with Bush's illegal spying activities, and now those same Dems are afraid that they themselves could be held liable for any illegal spying committed by Bush and the Telecomm companies (Turley used the words "an obvious level of [Dem] collusion".)
Keith Olbermann then concluded by saying that the Dems are thus "covering their own asses here".
So, this is all starting to make sense now; Jay Rockefeller is likely one of those Dems would could be found complicit in Bush's illegal spying activities.
Think about it; what else would make Rockefeller fight so hard for the FISA Telecom immunity provision? He certainly does not need the money, or some Billy Tauzin-like future corporate lobbying gig, etc. Rockefeller has plenty of money, and money can do a lot of things, but money cannot buy oneself out of prison.
So, for Rockefeller, this is not about loving the Telecom companies or their financial campaign contributions; this is about Rockefeller wanting to avoid prison time for himself.
The same idea applies to the entire gang of eight who knew about Bush's illegal spying activities, and that gang includes Pelosi.
Update #1:
What to do now
Strange Bedfellows Unite to Fight FISA Deal
Ron Paul supporters, the ACLU and liberal blogs are uniting
Washington, DC — A sham spying deal could be rammed through both the Senate and House this week. It's moving that fast. If we don't stop this, telecom companies that broke the law by supplying mountains of personal information to the government without a warrant will be let off the hook.
A broad alliance of strange bedfellows is now forming to support a campaign to fight the gutting of FISA (The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) with the intent to work together on all civil liberties, constitutional rights and rule of law issues.
The ACLU is joining with activists from the Ron Paul campaign, represented by Break the Matrix, Rick Williams and Trevor Lyman, and civil liberties writer Glenn Greenwald of Salon, and leading liberal bloggers including, Jane Hamsher of firedoglake, Matt Stoller of Open Left, John Amato of Crooks and Liars, Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny, Digby, Josh Nelson of The Seminal and activist Josh Koster to tell Congress that we will not let them ignore the Constitution or give immunity to telecoms which deliberately broke our laws for years.
This group of Strange Bedfellows is mobilizing a broad-based left-right coalition of office holders and candidates, public interest groups and individuals who are devoted to preserving basic constitutional liberties to join in the fight. The goal is to work together to impede the corrupt FISA/telecom amnesty deal.
Update #2:
Thanks for the rec list! (first one for me!)