Lawmakers' Bid to Rein in N.S.A. Narrowly Fails

[pmorlan1]

10. Great Vote

I can't believe everyone is in the dumps in this thread. This was a fabulous vote today. No one thought that this amendment would get 205 votes. Most people thought that if they got 100 votes it would be a good vote. We got 205 votes. We got a majority of Democrats and a good chunk of Republicans.

This is from the NYT piece describing the vote:

Ultimately, 94 House Republicans defied their leadership; 111 Democrats — a majority of the Democratic caucus — defied their president.

We should be very happy. This was our first vote on this issue and we almost won despite the heavy lobbying coming from the NSA, Political leadership of both Parties and the President.

I watched the vote on cspan. While they were voting, cspan broke away to take calls from citizens. When they went to the Republican line they heard support for the amendment, when they went to the Democratic line they heard support for the amendment and finally, when they went to the Independent line they heard support for the amendment. It was the same over and over and over. Every caller, save one, supported the amendment. The one caller who didn't voice support for the amendment also didn't knock the amendment. People are waking up. They are crossing Party lines to fight a common enemy. Our politicians are hearing from these people and they are finally starting to stand up to the powerful surveillance state.

It's a great day for us.