David Nordstrom: Blame Republicans, not Democrats, for FISA bill

On July 9, 2008 after five months of delay and debate, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence and for other purposes. The bill, H.R. 6304, passed on a vote of 69-28, with three members not voting. I am writing this now because I expect some voices in the peace movement to criticize "the Democrats" for supporting this bill. However, I want to note that all of the 28 no votes were cast by Democrats, while only 22 of the yes votes were. Among the 28 Democrats voting no were Senators Reid, the party's leader, Kerry, the party's presidential nominee in 2004, and Byrd, the dean of the Senate. Despite claims to the contrary, the Democratic Party is not a monolithic body. As we hear claims this summer and fall that Democrats gave the White House this legislative victory, let's remember that the main credit belongs to the Senate Republicans.

David Nordstrom is a WNPJ member living in Madison.