Bob Casey votes FOR Bush's domestic spying demands. (8/03/07)

[enough]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/4/04858/29657

Senate Gives in on Wiretapping. 16 Dems Go Along.
by Meteor Blades
Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:00:24 PM PDT

The Senate has surrendered to Mister Bush on domestic spying, yielding ignominiously to the White House’s demands that the unitary executive be given more authority when it seeks to wiretap suspected terrorists without warrants. The vote was 60-28. If passed by the House, the bill would be law for six months. Meanwhile, Congress would use that time to put together a permanent one.

The New York Times notes:

The White House and Congressional Republicans hailed the Senate vote as critical to plugging what they saw as dangerous gaps in the intelligence agencies’ ability to detect terrorist threats.

"I can sleep a little safer tonight," Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who co-sponsored the measure, declared after the Senate vote.

The measure approved by the Senate expires in six months and would have to be re-authorized. The White House’s grudging agreement to make it temporary helped to attract the votes of some moderate Democrats who said they thought it was important for Congress to approve some version of the wiretapping bill before its recess.

The White House and Republican leaders pressed the point throughout the day that a vote against the measure would put the nation at greater risk of attack.

No Republicans voted against the bill. The following Democrats voted for it: Evan Bayh (Indiana); Tom Carper (Delaware); Bob Casey (Pennsylvania); Kent Conrad (North Dakota); Dianne Feinstein (California); Daniel Inouye (Hawai‘i); Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota); Nancy Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Claire McCaskill (Missouri); Barbara Mikulski (Maryland); Bill Nelson (Florida); Ben Nelson (Nebraska); Mark Pryor (Arkansas); Ken Salazar (Colorado); Jim Webb (Virginia).

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[bleedingheart]

1. another reason I am glad I voted my conscience in the primary

I am quite sure that Pennachio would never have voted this way...and that provides me with the ounce of solace I need when I have to hear this shit.

[FREEWILL56]

2. I'm bginning to wonder

if we have a party or are we just another group to bow to the republicon rule. START GROWING A PAIR OR FIND YOURSELVES VOTED OUT. THE PEOPLE NEED REPRESENTATIVES TO DO ON OUR BEHALF AND NOT THE REPUBLICON PARTY!!!! Casey should know better and i will not vote for him in the future as his nose is browned with republicon crap.

[kaybea]

3. Yeah, I'm wondering what was the point of voting for this guy

in the general. So he caucuses with the Dems, big deal so far..what's the benefit if he votes increasingly with Republicans? He votes against stem cell research last week (or was it month?) and now votes for spying, overseen by an AG who has appeared before the Senate but either can't remember what he's done or lies about it....so he's either incompetent or criminal! Casey got where he is on the name of his father...sound familiar?

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Were you disappointed with his vote on the minimum wage?

:shrug:

[FREEWILL56]

11. That's a switch tactic I'd expect from that other party.

If you think voting for minimum wage justifies voting for spying on the constituents he's supposed to serve, think again. That's equal to saying he loves and kisses babies while he's spitting up on me. Thanks, but no thanks, as we can get others who will not only vote for things like minimum wage, but will keep our constitutional rights at the same time. It is part of his job to do this for us and when you don't do your job, you need fired. Most of that other party does need to be fired and put into jail for treason and other crimes against the usa and its citizens. I feel no sorrow for anybody claiming to be a democrat that not only falls for republicon ways, but violates my rights too to kiss and benefit the ass(es) of who?

[philly_bob]

4. Once Santorum seemed unbeatable...

so the party's bosses made an early choice of Casey as the most electable, the well-connected son of a former state governor.

As it turned out, the winds changed, and Santorum became a sure loser. But we are stuck with Casey, the safe choice.

We always knew that he would not vote for abortion. But up until the vote on FISA I thought he functioned adequately on a Democratic team with widely-divergent philosophies. But with the FISA vote, he moves into Santorum territory.

Santorum territory is where I (and probably others) start to wonder who can beat him in 2012.

Casey is not a commanding public speaker, so he can be beaten in debate.

[mrgorth]

5. No chance

And I'm not just saying this optimistically. You have very little chance of beating a sitting US Senator in a primary. I can personally guarantee you Bucks would not go against him. Lehigh, Carbon counties...yeah, almost no shot.

[philly_bob]

6. So how can we get the message to Casey not to cave in to Bush

on constitutional issues?

[mrgorth]

7. Write him, call him

Same as anyone else. I don't like his vote and neither does Patrick Murphy BTW but I won't toss him out for something that's up in 6 months and even if I wanted to the logistics are tough. Write letters to the editor. Same way you influence anyone else.

[Penndems]

8. Here's Senator Casey's response regarding his "yea" vote on the FISA bill:

http://casey.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=280578

[FREEWILL56]

9. This sounds like he's trying a bit of fence sitting to me.

Yes, kissing the republicon butts while sending a smoke screen of I'm trying to figure it all out so it's ok for spying on us at this time? What's this about fixing as he voted to keep our constitutional rights broken?
“I voted for both versions of the temporary FISA fix in order to ensure that U.S. intelligence has the tools they need to target terrorists while a larger review of the FISA law is conducted."

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Who cares if he can be beaten in a debate?

Most voters don't watch debates, especiallty non-presidential ones. Santorum is certainly a much better debater than Casey, but he lost to Casey by 59%-41%.

[sandrakae]

13. Bob Casey is Rick Santorum in disguise.