... and I was relieved to see that the sky was still suspended above our heads, despite Congress's actions today.
I'm not minimizing the importance nor the impact of today's fight, by no means. This well and truly sucks.
And we should be angry, but we should also be smart about our anger and direct it appropriately.
We should remember which Democrats voted against removing immunity.
We should remember which Democrats voted against Specter's amendment, which would require the court to determine the constitutionality of the NSA program, which would then answer the question of immunity.
We should remember which Democrats voted against the Bingaman amendment, which would require that the Senate wait for the Inspector general audits of the NSA program before giving immunity to telecoms.
We definitely should take note of which five Democrats did ALL THREE of those things:
Evan Bayh.
Mary Landrieu.
Ben Nelson (Nebraska).
Mark Pryor.
Jay Rockefeller.
We should also take note of which Senators voted for the final passage of the bill, effectively eliminating all pending lawsuits against law-breaking telecoms:
Evan Bayh.
Tom Carper.
Bob Casey, Jr.
Kent Conrad.
Diane Feinstein.
Daniel Inouye.
Herb Kohl.
Mary Landrieu.
Blanche Lincoln.
Claire McCaskill.
Barbara Mikulski.
Ben Nelson (Nebraska).
Bill Nelson (Florida).
Barack Obama.
Mark Pryor.
Jay Rockefeller.
Ken Salazar.
Jim Webb.
Sheldon Whitehouse.
We should all feel free to utilize the links above, to let them know just how disappointed we are in them, how betrayed we feel.
And, in some instances--like the FISA Five above (h/t lgmcp )--we should feel free to express the joy and anticipation we feel when we primary their sorry asses out of the Senate.
But, above all, we shouldn't lose hope. We shouldn't abandon Obama. We shouldn't hesitate to do what is right, what we need to do.
I've been a vocal defender of Markos's post last week, and I still defend it and his choice. I understand why he would be unwilling to donate coming off the heels of Obama's highly questionable comments about FISA. So, I understand his point and in a large way, I support it.
I'm also donating $50 to Obama's campaign as of today. And every month until the election.
It's money I can't really afford, but I can cancel my Netflix and I can always sell some older items I have lying about the house on Ebay.
I'm not rewarding bad behavior, I'm not giving just because he's our candidate.
I'm giving because clearly, a majority in Congress is not enough to help our country. It's not enough to trust in the "D" next to someone's name.
We need the Executive branch.
We need more Democrats in Congress.
We need to start the long, arduous process of using primary challenges to get rid of the DINOs.
I feel we're right to be outraged about FISA. I feel we're right to call everyone to task, Obama included, for their participation in this travesty.
I also feel that we need to be ready to do what's right and support Obama, despite whatever criticisms we may level his way.
I'm still going to criticize him when he does things I don't agree with.
But I'll still be sending him that check, too.
UPDATE: I mistakenly put Byron Dorgan as one who vote "Aye" on this bill. He in fact voted "Nay" with the rest of the good guys. h/t loud zoo for the correction.