Senate bows to Bush, approves surveillance bill

Associated Press

Bowing to President Bush’s demands, the Senate sent the White House a bill Wednesday overhauling bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shielding telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.

The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling over surveillance rules and the president’s warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Just under a third of the Senate, including Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, supported an amendment that would have stripped immunity from the bill. They were defeated on a 66-32 vote. Republican rival John McCain did not attend the vote.

Obama ended up voting for the final bill, as did Specter. Feingold voted no.

We have now moved from a de facto police state, to a de jure police state.

Obama, now that he has the nomination, felt it safe to betray us in order to show his loyalty to corporate America and to pander to the imaginary Bush supporters who he thinks will vote for him.

Other Democratic traitors who chose to nullify the 4th Amendment:

Baucus (D-MT)

Bayh (D-IN)

Carper (D-DE)

Casey (D-PA)

Conrad (D-ND)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Inouye (D-HI)

Isakson (R-GA)

Johnson (D-SD)

Kohl (D-WI)

Landrieu (D-LA)

Lincoln (D-AR)

McCaskill (D-MO)

Mikulski (D-MD)

Nelson (D-FL)

Nelson (D-NE)

Obama (D-IL)

Pryor (D-AR)

Roberts (R-KS)

Rockefeller (D-WV)

Salazar (D-CO)

Webb (D-VA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)

The Republic is no more.