The story on what the administration is doing with the Protect America Act now (just as they did in August) is long and involved. And the reason for this post is the President’s recent threat to veto any bill that does not include immunity for the telecoms from lawsuits that are currently pending in the courts. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/02/veto_threat_for_proposed_spy_l.php
But I wanted to highlight the point made by Senator Kennedy at one of the previous veto threats made by the president (back in December 2007). He said:
“The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retro-active immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he’s willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies.”
