A House bill that would have extended the Protect America Act, the FISA bill from last August, was defeated by a vote of 229 to 191. Blue Dog Democrats sided with Republicans. But a bill to prolong its debate for 3 more weeks passed by a vote of 206-199.
Bush is still saying that he will veto any bill that does not include retroactive immunity for the telecommunication companies. He said that "terrorists are planning new attacks on our country . . . that will make Sept. 11 pale by comparison." Clearly he believes that protecting the telecommunications companies is more important than protecting American citizens. But, what else is going on?
That Bush is afraid that his law-breaking will come to light in the trials that would ensue if the telecoms are NOT given retroactive immunity is quite evident. But he seems to be getting more and more desperate to get this done. Why? The lawsuits are being held in abeyance while the bill is pending. Let it pend for years and he's quite free. I'd like to suggest that he needs to be free to do the wiretapping so that he and his cronies can interfere with the elections.
Okay. Call me crazy. I just don't put anything past this crew.