Dick Cheney Telecom Amnesty Bill Liveblog Thread #2

CORNYN: Let me sit here and laud the virtues of bipartisanship while I block anything the Democrats are trying to do and and ram the FISA bill that George Bush approves down their throats.

Let us also refuse to extend the Protect America Act for 30 days so we can call the Democrats "soft on terror" if they don’t give Dick Cheney and the Telecoms everything they want when it expires on Friday (and no, that does not mean the FISA law expires, just the PAA). Poor, poor telecoms. Bipartisan bipartisan bipartisan.

CHAMBLISS: Time is running out on the PAA because I intend to vote against extending it. The bogeymen will then be able to eat the babies.

We shouldn’t extend the Protect America Act because it will "kick the can down the road," and take the clock off that we used so effectively to force Democrats into passing a bad bill in August. Because would take away all of George Bush’s best material tonight when he tries to call the Democrats "soft on terror." And because Dick Cheney says Scooter Libby shouldn’t be the only one who gets to skate.

(um…shouldn’t we be seeing some presidential candidates making forceful statements, or is it all just "changiness?" — jh)

BOND: There are some who say that the FISA bill in place is all that is necessary and nothing in the Intel bill is necessary. Nobody in the Senate, mind you, who agree to a one that foreign-to-foreign calls routed through the US should not require a warrant, but somewhere there is somebody who thinks that. So I will vote for cloture.

AMERICAN HERO CHRIS DODD: These freaks really believe that there are some companies who are too rich and too powerful to be subject to the rule of law. Yes, they really think that.

Why would they want to shut off debate by refusing to extend the Protect America Act? Well, because all that "bipartisan" talk is just so much noise. They really couldn’t care less what we think.

I know that I’ve said a lot about retroactive immunity, but the dragnets and lack of oversight are pretty f*#king awful too.

Why would Bush veto an extension and expose us to what he says is abject danger just for the benefit of Dick Cheney and other telecom crooks?

MC CONNELL: We’re "flirting with disaster." Terra terra terra. Fear fear fear. "Republicans will not allow these critical protections to expire." Except that we won’t extend them, because the President wouldn’t sign that anyway, and we’re only here to do what he tells us.

Related posts:

1. Laura Ingraham on “This Week”: Dick Cheney “Cuts Through” on Afghanistan Because “His Numbers Are Going Up”
2. Liz Cheney Warns Against “Walking Away” from Afghanistan, Apparently Forgetting that Dick Cheney Walked Away from Afghanistan
3. How Dick Cheney Cowed Obama
4. Dick Cheney: I’m Proud I Tortured to Protect Our Country But Not Our Allies
5. Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and the “Unremarkable” Meat Grinder