Today in the senate

So the FISA fight officially died today. There were 28 heroes who voted against FISA and for all of the amendments (a few who voted against it did actually vote for cloture and as much as I'm not a fan of the cloture vote the other votes were the important ones)

A note that Clinton was one of these heroes but Obama was not. Obama, in what can only be construed as a pandering political move, voted for all of the amendments (to appease the left) but then when they were all defeated voted for cloture and for the bill with immunity (pissing off the left but appeasing people in the middle and the right so that John McCain can't falsely accuse him of not protecting our country). It just seems like a silly move to me and ultimate capitulation to stand up and say "we should have all of these amendments to this bill" and then when told 'no' you just say "ok, nevermind, I guess the bill is fine as it is." You just rewarded their stubbornness and showed yourself to be weak. Very frustrating, although not entirely unexpected I guess.

In very uplifting news from the senate, the medicare bill that was in danger of not passing (or at least not passing with a veto-proof majority) but then Ted Kennedy made his first appearance since his diagnosis to vote for it. This argueably swayed a few fence-sitting republicans needed so that the motion passed with 69 votes.

Oh and not that these votes were important or anything but McCain couldn't be bothered to show up.