I gotcher bipartisanship for ya, rightchea
by digby
Funny, for all their talk of a need for bipartisanship, the political establishment was dismayed to see it in full effect last night:
As we’ve seen in other debates over the NSA’s surveillance, the roll call produced some interesting cross-cutting. Ninety-four Republicans sided in favor of the amendment, along with 111 Democrats. Missing, however, was transparency hawk (and darling of the Internet) Rep. Darrell Issa, who voted to uphold the NSA’s surveillance program.
Issa didn’t offer a public explanation for his vote, and efforts to reach his office received no responses Thursday morning.
Other committee leaders played a crucial role in rallying opposition to Amash. House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) spent much of Wednesday making calls to other members.
Amash faced stiff high-ranking opposition. The leadership of both parties, as well as the White House, vocally opposed weakening the NSA’s ability to conduct surveillance. But Amash still managed to mount a strong defense — which suggests that momentum is building for critics of the NSA.
“The tide is turning,” read an update last night posted to DefundtheNSA.com, a Web site launched hours before the vote by Sina Khanifar, a digital activist. The site now has a list of the complete roll call, divided into two groups: those who voted for the amendment and those who voted against it. Beneath each lawmaker’s photo is a button urging constituents to tweet or call.
“They were very worried,” said Conyers of the Democratic leadership, which opposed the amendment along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “And the fact that they won this narrowly means they still are worried because this thing isn’t over yet.”
Earlier this month, polls from Quinnipiac and The Washington Post showed a swing in public opinion against the NSA programs. That’s in contrast to a Pew survey conducted immediately after the NSA story broke that showed only a quarter of Americans following those developments closely.
In a few weeks, the online advocates at Restore the Fourth plan to launch new protests against the NSA. In New York, the demonstrations will closely resemble the organization’s events that took place July 4. But in other cities, said spokesman Derick Bellamy, organizers will bring in policy experts to teach workshops and do a bit of on-the-spot education. Restore the Fourth aims to get 100,000 attendees during its “1984 Day” on Aug. 4.
Senior lawmakers and the White House hoped that last night’s vote would become a release valve — a strategic opportunity to let upset congressmen blow off some steam. But, it seems, Team Amash views the amendment’s defeat as simply a tactical setback.
Now why would they need to "let off steam" in a bipartisan fashion unless they felt they needed to show to their constituents that they felt these programs had gone too far?
I would guess that if a Republican were in the White House there would be fewer Republicans on board and more Democrats. But this shows quite clearly that there is a constituency out there that cares about the 4th Amendment and believes that our government has no right to make laws in secret and spy on its own citizens without due process. They should be worried.
Here's the vote breakdown. There are some Democrats on that list who have now relinquished any right to call themselves civil libertarians. As usual.
And some, like Colleen Hababusa, who are running Senate primaries in deep blue states against real progressives like Brian Schatz should pay for this shameful vote by being rejected at the ballot box.
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