I’m just back from DC and have been offline all day. Thanks to the other front-pagers for picking up my slack. I see that Steny Hoyer capitulated, as expected. I’d like to just make one point about this. The Netroots is based on opposition and on unseating congresspeople and senators. That’s what we’re good at. Ordinarily we would focus on defeating Republicans, but we’ve become so good at that we’ll be quite happy to toss a few Democrats out of office even if it means a slightly smaller Democratic majority. I don’t think there is any issue that the Netroots is more passionate about than illegal warrantless surveillance. Any Democrat that votes for Steny’s compromise is going to be at real risk of a well-funded primary challenge or, at least, a nasty ad campaign aimed at driving up their negatives. I’m just saying. Our fourth amendment rights are sacred, and getting to the truth of what Bush did is the next thing to sacred.
So, before you go vote tomorrow, be forewarned. There will be a heavy price to pay for voting away our privacy rights.
