The Senate votes 69-29-2 to let the Telecom companies off the hook for their role in revealing private consumer information to the intelligence community under the direction of the Bush Administration. Millionaires giving millionaires a Get Out of Jail Free Card and it's disgusting. I know there are some complex legal issues at stake here, but strip away the ambiguity of the law and this is morally wrong.



For the record, here's the vote:





YEAs ---69 Alexander (R-TN)

Allard (R-CO)

Barrasso (R-WY)

Baucus (D-MT)

Bayh (D-IN)

Bennett (R-UT)

Bond (R-MO)

Brownback (R-KS)

Bunning (R-KY)

Burr (R-NC)

Carper (D-DE)

Casey (D-PA)

Chambliss (R-GA)

Coburn (R-OK)

Cochran (R-MS)

Coleman (R-MN)

Collins (R-ME)

Conrad (D-ND)

Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Craig (R-ID)

Crapo (R-ID)

DeMint (R-SC)

Dole (R-NC)

Domenici (R-NM)

Ensign (R-NV)

Enzi (R-WY)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Grassley (R-IA)

Gregg (R-NH)

Hagel (R-NE)

Hatch (R-UT)

Hutchison (R-TX)

Inhofe (R-OK)

Inouye (D-HI)

Isakson (R-GA)

Johnson (D-SD)

Kohl (D-WI)

Kyl (R-AZ)

Landrieu (D-LA)

Lieberman (ID-CT)

Lincoln (D-AR)

Lugar (R-IN)

Martinez (R-FL)

McCain (R-AZ)

McCaskill (D-MO)

McConnell (R-KY)

Mikulski (D-MD)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Nelson (D-FL)

Nelson (D-NE)

Pryor (D-AR)

Roberts (R-KS)

Rockefeller (D-WV)

Salazar (D-CO)

Sessions (R-AL)

Shelby (R-AL)

Smith (R-OR)

Snowe (R-ME)

Specter (R-PA)

Stevens (R-AK)

Sununu (R-NH)

Thune (R-SD)

Vitter (R-LA)

Voinovich (R-OH)

Warner (R-VA)

Webb (D-VA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)

Wicker (R-MS)



NAYs ---29 Akaka (D-HI)

Biden (D-DE)

Bingaman (D-NM)

Boxer (D-CA)

Brown (D-OH)

Byrd (D-WV)

Cantwell (D-WA)

Cardin (D-MD)

Dodd (D-CT)

Dorgan (D-ND)

Durbin (D-IL)

Feingold (D-WI)

Harkin (D-IA)

Kennedy (D-MA)

Kerry (D-MA)

Klobuchar (D-MN)

Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Leahy (D-VT)

Levin (D-MI)

Menendez (D-NJ)

Murray (D-WA)

Obama (D-IL)

Reed (D-RI)

Reid (D-NV)

Sanders (I-VT)

Schumer (D-NY)

Stabenow (D-MI)

Tester (D-MT)

Wyden (D-OR)



Not Voting - 2 Clinton (D-NY)

Graham (R-SC)





UPDATE: Apparently, the list that I cut and paste from the senate.gov site just after the vote was completed was inaccurate as it now shows that Obama also did not vote . I was watching CNN and MSNBC throughout the morning and both networks reported that Obama was on the Senate floor, while Clinton was not there at all. If that's true and he didn't vote, it seems strange to me. At any rate, the point of this post is not so much the fact that Clinton and Obama didn't vote (as I'm sure both of them would have voted with the Kennedy/Schumer Progressive block). It's the idea that 68 people voted "yea" to a free pass on domestic spying. That needs a response from the American people.

UPDATE UPDATE:

claims Obama voted "nay", although I tend to believe the senate.gov list at this point.

Notice that McCain voted "Yea", Obama voted "Nay", and Clinton didn't show up. For what it's worth. Send an e-mail to your senator to complain if they supported this....