FISA fight, or capitulation again?

Today is a big day in the Senate. Today they are set to tackle the FISA reforms approved by the House, and this vote should have been held weeks months ago. From MSNBC:

The Senate is finally expected to wrap up the bill updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act today, which includes the controversial provision of retroactive immunity for telecom companies facing lawsuit. While the bill splits Democrats, it's expected to pass with united Republican support.

Obama will be back for today's vote and has said he'll support final passage.

Before final passage, there will be three efforts to either eliminate or weaken the immunity section of the bill. Those efforts will take the form of three amendments offered by Sens. Dodd/Feingold, Specter, and Bingaman. The key amendment is Dodd/Feingold, which simply removes immunity from the bill and would let the lawsuits proceed. Dodd/Feingold requires a simple majority for passage. Specter and Bingaman require 60 votes. All should fail.

Obama did say that he'd support the cloture and the final passage of the bill (expected after cloture) and Gabriel over at AoSHQ highlights the Obama waffle:

December 17, 2007: "Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same. It's not clear whether he can return for the vote, but under the Senate rules, the side trying to end a filibuster must produce 60 votes to cut off debate. Whether he is present for the vote or not, Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster."

June 25, 2008: "My view on FISA has always been that the issue with phone companies per se is not one that overrides security interests of the American people. I do want accountability, and making sure that, as I've said before, that somebody is watching the watchers."

"Why can't I just eat my waffle?"

By all means, senator. Finish your waffle. Your fever-swamp, nutroots supporters will make sure you eat your words. Oh wait. They already are:

F*** Reid, F*** Pelosi, F*** Hoyer, F***Rockefeller, and , yes, F*** Obama. F*** ‘em all!

HT to the mighty Lizard Army commander, Charles Johnson for the KosKiddies quote.

Two of the proposed three amendments failed miserably. The Specter Amendment went down 61-37, and the Bingaman/Feingold Amendment, which closer, failed as well 56-42. Captain Ed has the skinny on the final cloture vote:

Update, 2:29 pm ET: Obama just voted to approve a procedural motion that will bring HR 6304 up for a vote. Boxer and Durbin voted no on the motion; Obama appears ready to break hearts across the Left.

Update, 2:36: Kristen Breitweiser at HuffPo is keeping a candle burning for Hillary over this. Unfortunately, Hillaryvoted for the procedural motion as well. Looks like she plans to support the FISA compromise, although like Obama she voted for both failed amendments.

Update, 2:39: Clinton changed her vote to No. Profiles in Courage, or did she read the HuffPo article?

Update, 2:45: That was a cloture motion that Obama supported. No filibuster for the netroots! Cloture passed 72-26; the actual vote comes next. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) opened up final debate with a speech in support of the FISA reform.

Michelle Malkin announces that FISA has passed 69-28, with Obama voting yes and Hillary voting no. Once again the nation is back under the protection of the brave men and women keeping a close eye on our enemies, their activities abroad, and their sympathizers/allies in hiding here in the States. She also observes that the fever swamp is turning on any Democrat who voted in favor of the FISA reform. The question remains if Obama-bots will turn on their messiah because he did vote for cloture, and to approve the bill. Time will tell. The roll call votes should be here shortly. (Take note of any round-heeled Republicans who might have caved to the nutroots.)

Publius II

UPDATE: Here is the roll call vote. Yeas first, Nays second. And John McCain, Jeff Sessions, and Ted Kennedy didn't vote. (Democrats voting Yea are bolded and highlighted below.) Also, there were no round-heeled Republicans. Every Republican who cast a vote did so in favor of passing the reforms. Also, you might want to check out this post by Captain Ed. It's an interesting question that's asked regarding the possible strategy that Hillary may have executed to appeal to the fever swamp nutroots.

YEAS
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)

NAYS
Akaka (D-HI)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Wyden (D-OR)