Caroline Frederickson of the ACLU:

It’s Christmas morning at the White House thanks to this vote. The House just wrapped up some expensive gifts for the administration and their buddies at the phone companies. Watching the House fall to scare tactics and political maneuvering is especially infuriating given the way it stood up to pressure from the president on this same issue just months ago. In March we thought the House leadership had finally grown a backbone by rejecting the Senate’s FISA bill. Now we know they will not stand up for the Constitution. [MORE]

Via Greenwald:

Not even the media establishment and the GOP can refrain from mocking this pretense they're trying to peddle. What's amazing is that they're actually as devoid of dignity as they are integrity.

. . . [T]he GOP couldn't even wait for the ink to dry on this "compromise" before publicly -- and accurately -- boasting that they not only got everything they want, but got even more than they dreamed they would get. To The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau, GOP House Whip Roy Blunt derided the telecom amnesty provision as nothing more than a "formality" which would inevitably lead to the immediate and automatic dismissal of all lawsuits against the telecoms, while Sen. Kit Bond taunted the Democrats for giving away even more than they had to in order to get a deal: "I think the White House got a better deal than they even had hoped to get."

(Emphasis supplied.) Everyone, Dem or Republican, is contemptuous of you Surrender Steny and Clueless Pelosi. You look like the weak dupes you have become.

Speakng for me only.

Former Press Secretary Scott McClellan testified today before the House Judiciary Committee about the Valerie Plame leaks investigation.

He said former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told him that the president and vice president wanted him to publicly say that Libby was not involved in the leak.

''I was reluctant to do it,'' McClellan told the Democratic-led panel. ''I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this in any way?' And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not.''

As to Cheney:

McClellan said he does not believe Bush knew about or caused the leak. When asked about Cheney, he replied: ''I do not know. There's a lot of suspicion there.''

Have you ever traveled with the fear that you might lose your ID and will be unable to board your return flight? It turns out that the highly classified, super-secret TSA rules actually permit you to get on the plane without an ID, as long as you submit to additional screening (and provided you find a TSA employee who actually knows what the super-secret rules say).

That remarkably reasonable policy is changing.

Beginning Saturday, June 21, travelers ... who "willfully refuse" to show IDs won't be allowed through checkpoints or onto planes. Only passengers who show IDs, and "cooperative" passengers who explain why their IDs are missing and help police confirm their identities, will get through.

The policy change invites abuse by giving TSA the discretion to decide (based on nothing more than a whim, or worse, a prejudice) who is being "cooperative." It also further diminishes the right to travel. [more ...]

The First Amendment's Establishment Clause prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another. It seems a no-brainer that South Carolina, by offering a license plate with a cross and the phrase "I Believe," is favoring Christianity. The State doesn't offer license plates with the religious symbols that represent other faiths, or a plate that says "I Don't Believe."

"The license plate was approved unanimously by the state’s Legislature earlier this year" because after all, what South Carolina legislator wants to vote against Jesus? South Carolina deserves the lawsuit (pdf) that Americans United for Separation of Church and State brought "on behalf of three Christian clergy members, a rabbi and a Hindu group from the state, arguing that the license plates violated the Constitution."

Approval of the plate “was a clear signal that Christianity is the preferred religion of South Carolina,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the group’s executive director and a United Church of Christ minister, “and obviously we don’t believe the Constitution allows this.”

Obviously.

The FISA debate (better known as Steny's Surrender) begins now. The rule is for a 1 hour debate and one motion to recommit. This is an outrageous rule.

The debate begins now on C-Span. Mike Arcuri (D-NY) will manage the surrender. I will live blog it below.

Hillary also suggested that she would soon be making public statements about the media coverage of the campaign, as well as the ways "women were discussed," saying that she would "be doing more on that as we go forward." . . . Hillary . . . suggested that she'd be making public statements soon about the media's treatment of her candidacy.

Speaking of the campaign, Hillary noted that "there were a lot of other aspects to it that people are asking about. A lot of real concerns about some of the ways we were portrayed in the media and the way women were discussed." "I will be doing more on that as we go forward," Hillary said.

I welcome Senator Clinton's contributions to this important discussion.

Speaking for me only

The stakes are too high and the challenges too great to play the same old Washington games with the same old Washington players.

-Barack Obama

That would be a great line to use in a denunciation of the Steny Surrender on FISA.

What Obama has actually said about Steny's Surrender on FISA? This - _______________. We still hear the crickets. Not surprisingly, President Bush (pdf) strongly supports Steny's Surrender. Bush on TV now praising the just passed no strings Iraq War funding bill and the Steny Surrender bill. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski label this a "humiliating defeat" for the Democrats. They are right.

The House will be debating the Steny Surrender today. C-Span will cover it.

Speaking for me only

The AP reports:

Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, said members of her caucus asked her to forward the names of Edwards and Nunn when she met Wednesday with Obama's vice presidential search team. The team, Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, indicated the two were on the list.

What Obama's committee is looking for:

"I asked them what type of person the senator is looking for? And they said in general someone who could help him rebuild the country ... talking about change. How we reinvest in America, get people back to work and reinforce our education system and bring the jobs back," she said.

More....

As the say in show business, the show must go on. NBC has chosen Brian Williams to guest host "Meet the Press" this week.

The guest will be:

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Biden, who were scheduled to be interviewed by Russert on “Meet the Press” last weekend, will be Williams’ guests on Sunday. It’s unclear who will host the program on June 29.

“Right now, we’re looking at it week by week,” Capus said. “Brian is enormously talented, and it seemed like a logical place to turn for this weekend. But I haven’t been able think beyond that.”

Who do you think should now be moderating Meet the Press?

Is there such a thing as overexposure? Barack Obama ads are everywhere on the internet. They'll be coming to tv in 18 states and who knows how many radio stations.

Now, Obama is considering taking out ads on NBC for the Olympic Games.

At some point, aren't voters likely to feel the ads are intrusive? Or at least start rolling their eyes?

I'm getting angry that every time I click on a news site, his face is staring at me from the top banner ad or some other prominent space on the site.

He doesn't need to do this. We all know who he is and that he stands for hope and change and bringing a new kind of politics to Washington.

Monks on the mountainside of Tibet know Obama's name and his face and his message. Toddlers could pick him out of a photo lineup. We get it. He's the Democratic nominee for President. He wants our vote. He has my vote.

Does this ad barrage bother anyone else? The last thing I want to see during the Olympic Games is ads for Barack Obama or any politician. Please, can we just have McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi and Burger King? Is nothing sacred?