So much for FISA filibusters, eh? Where was Feingold?

Contrary to GOP threats of filibustering, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a Senator actually, individually, filibuster a bill. Well, all his high talk aside, even Russ Feingold apparently decided he didn’t want to add a page to Senate history books.

”This president broke the law,” Feingold said.

Then, why didn’t you filibuster?

In an anticlimactic final vote, the FISA amendment debasement bill sailed through the Senate after Chris Dodd’s “strip the immunity” amendment to it failed to get even 35 votes. Arlen Specter’s proposal to have district courts address the legality issue before granting immunity got 37 votes, and Jeff Bingaman’s proposal to delay immunity for a year-long investigation (which nobody wants in a presidential election year) got 42 votes.

Couple the FISA cave with Bush’s refusal to approve Passive Pelosi™’s nomination to a new government civil liberties board, and the Irony alert and Hypocrisy alert confluence is huge.

Not approved?

Morton Halperin, a veteran and sometimes controversial civil liberties advocate who has a famous role in the history of modern debates over government wiretapping.