Updated:
I changed the title to "Another reason for FISA capitulation" from "the REAL reason..." because I want to point out that I think this is just one of several factors that explain Democrats failing to oppose Bush and Cheney policies.
That being said, what we are witnessing with the FISA capitulations is yet another massive Kabuki theater production.
Powerful Democrats like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, joined by other spineless politicians like Rockefeller and Feinstein, will do everything they can to protect George Bush and Dick Cheney, and keep them in power until the Nov 2008 elections.
The FISA court cases could imperil Bush and force his removal from office. That's why our "leaders" want them stopped.
We need to face the fact that an immoral and flawed political strategy is contributing to at the bottom of a series of Democratic moves.
Bought and paid lobbyists, and Bush/Cheney "fearmongering" is only one part of the picture. The other part is what we have to confront: Pelosi and Reid are not "winners". They are 'leaders' of the failed remains of DLC Democratic opposition. They inherited their power due to the electorate's disgust with Bush. Strategically, they make error after error.
Granting immunity to telecoms is yet another tactical mistake due to this immoral and feckless overall strategy of keeping Bush in office.
Pelosi, when asked about impeachment on CNN, not only said it is off the table. She directly linked impeachment being off the table, to the Iraq War "This is George Bush's war".
PELOSI: I've always said that impeachment is off the table. This is President Bush's war. It's Vice President Cheney's war and now it's become the war of the republicans in Congress.
That's a pretty direct statement. The implication, crystal clear: impeachment is off the table because that would stop the war, and the war hurts Republicans politically. It's Bush's war, and Cheney's, and the Republicans in Congress. She is going to force Bush and the Republicans to suffer the consequences of their warmongering.
Pelosi figures that the political consequences of enabling Bush to stay in office are less for her, than they will be for the Republicans. Especially if she can hide behind token resistance to Bush/Cheney policies for another twelve and a half months.
It's a calculated and pathetic ploy, straight from the failed DLC consultant pollster class. Even if it "works", it's a failure. (Thus, we could probably figure out exactly which top DLC-type pollsters cooked it up.)
But here's the gist: it doesn't matter that more people will die in Iraq. Or that the President and Vice President are war criminals with no respect for the rule of law. It doesn't matter that they're torturers, or that they're spying on us.
Pelosi and Reid want George Bush and Dick Cheney in the White House in November 2008, and they'll do whatever it takes to keep him there. That this is morally wrong is completely obvious, it's also bad political strategy.
This failed strategy helps explain the Democrats behavior in regards to FISA.
They want to immunize the telecom companies who participated in Bush's warrant-less spying because those court cases will eventually rule in the obvious manner: the spying was illegal. Period. The President doesn't have the power to violate the FISA law, and never did. Federal courts are going to conclude the obvious: the telcos broke the law, and Bush committed and ordered the commission of multiple, criminal felonies.
Pelosi and Reid know that when the news breaks that Federal courts have resolved the "disagreement" on whether Bush violated criminal laws with his spying program, Bush and Cheney will have to go. It's just that simple.
Pelosi would become President, and she'd have the power to stop the war with one order.
All of a sudden, Bush and Cheney would be out of power, and the Iraq War would be over. They don't want that, because they are scared. They are the relics of the old era and they don't know how to lead, or fight for principles.
Of course, a strong Democratic candidate will defeat the Republicans in '08, even if Bush and Cheney were removed from power and the war was over.
But our leftover "leaders" are too used to losing, they don't know how to handle their accidental power. All they know how to do is enable and obfuscate, and hedge their bets.
That's why they want to immunize Bush. They think it's the right thing to do. Politically, of course.