THE HOUSE FISA BILL WAS REASONABLE

Why wasn't it passed? Why couldn't the Senate pass something similar? Why are the Democrats so afraid of standing up to Fredo and the wingnut ideologues in Congress? Are they afraid of Sean Hannity?

(From the NYT, 8/5/07)

House Democrats said their alternative proposal would explicitly clarify that the government did not need a court order for monitoring any foreign-to-foreign communications simply because they were routed through switches and servers in the United States.

They said it would also authorize the special FISA court to provide a “basket warrant” for monitoring many individuals that might pick up communications with people in the United States, though the bill would have also required the attorney general to submit its procedures for approval by the court and would have required the Justice Department’s inspector general to conduct an audit every 60 days of communications involving people in the United States.