Enact draconian measure to "meet" that deadline.

Any bill that Bush will sign will give him what he's been asking for - otherwise he won't sign it.

IMO, she has been a mediocre Speaker who hasn't accomplished much, especially given the public's opinion of the administration and Republicans in general. She bears much of the blame for the same opinion polls indicating that the public holds only one group in more contempt that the President and his minions - that, of course, being the U S Congress.

Three possible reasons come to mind:

1. Pelosi and other Democrats are evil and want this bill because they really do think it is a good idea.

2. Pelosi and other Democrats are terribly afraid of being exposed should there be some kind of terrorist event.  They are afraid the blame will be focused on them because they stopped "spying on the terrorists".

3. Pelosi and the other Democrats need money and support from the telecommunications industry.

It's official.

The old politics is vanquished.

Just in time to be historic.

I can hardly wait for the movie.

TChris and I have both written many times on this.

Let it die a natural death. FISA's not broke, it doesn't need fixing and it certainly doesn't need weakening at the expense of the Fourth Amendment.

Quoting:
"A key element of the new plan would give U.S. district courts the chance to evaluate whether telecommunications companies deserve retroactive protection from lawsuits. A previous proposal floated by Republicans would have put the question to the secret FISA court that approves warrants...

Telephone and Internet service providers say they received written assurances that the warrantless wiretapping program was legal at the time they agreed to participate. The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups, however, said the telecoms should be held to a higher legal standard for helping the government eavesdrop on their customers."

This via the Washington Post.

Given the wide variance of thought among District Court judges, this compromise almost certainly would end up in the Federal Appellate ladder. I suppose this way, neither side would have to admit backing away from their respective positions.

He and Dodd will continue to fight it, but he didn't seem optimistic. (Obama's name conspicuous in absence.)

Here's the letter Feingold and Dodd sent to the negotiating group.

... As this legislation moves forward, please know that we will strongly oppose any legislation that includes a grant of unjustified retroactive immunity and that does not adequately protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans.

The central thrust of the revisions to the 1978 FISA are relating to electronic intercepts of foreign nationals, not located within U S territory. I do not see that as a 4th Amendment issue, unless you extrapolate some further erosion of rights by the law as written (and now expired) and the suggested language of the newest revision.

The previous conduct of electronic intercepts of either U S citizens and/or foreign nationals within U S territory has already been rejected, and in any case, was not explicitly written into the 2007 law.

The vast majority of rank-and-file members of the Democratic Party can't understand why the 'leaders' they elected in 2006, with a mandate to hold this Administration accountable for its' actions, haven't been doing their jobs, and have instead been cringing and scraping before the Elephant and begging to devour its' feces.

Might it not be because of the fact that the top 'leadership' of both 'parties' belong to the same Rich White Men's Club?

The carefully crafted facade masking corporate control of supposed free and democratic institutions is wearing so thin now, you really can  look behind the curtain' and watch the levers and buttons being worked, with the result that those purportedly 'hired' to do 'the People's business' are instead ramming Business's corporatist agenda down the People's throats. Meanwhile, the rank-and-file Democrats scratch their heads in disbelieving wonderment why the folks they sent to Warshington aren't doing what they were told to do.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) predicted Tuesday that there is enough support within the Democratic Conference to approve a contentious overhaul of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

[snip]

The development comes after Rockefeller, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the Bush administration reached an accord late last week to break a weeks-long stalemate
over balancing electronic surveillance with the right to privacy for American citizens, according to several people familiar with the talks.

"Breaking the stalemate" can only be understood as caving in to the corporations. From what we can gather they've agreed to ask a court to issue an opinion as to whether the Bush administration told the Telcoms they were immunized. If so, then that's that. It's not a compromise. It's an insult to the intelligence of the American people.