Senate Hearing Blogging

Thanks to Jane Hamsher at FDL we have great play by play coverage of the very important FISA bill debate going on in the Senate right now:

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.