by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

We're seeing a real separation of those on the side of justice and those on the side of cover-ups in the FISA fallout.  On the side of justice, for example, is Patrick Leahy:

But after months of negotiations, the House today unveiled a new FISA bill that I cannot support. While I applaud the fact that this legislation includes some of the important surveillance protections we wrote into the Senate Judiciary Committee bill last year, it fails to hold the Bush-Cheney Administration accountable for its illegal wiretapping program.

I will oppose this new FISA bill when the Senate votes on it next week. We must do everything we can to protect Americans from the Bush-Cheney Administration's erosion of our civil liberties and callous disregard for the rule of law -- and this new FISA bill fails that test.

Of course, he was cut out of the decision-making on this "deal."

On the side of cover-ups is Nancy Pelosi (over):

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Maya Harris
Executive Director
ACLU of Northern California

by randymi [courtesy of Calitics - Recommended]

This is a premature, possibly morbid diary, but should we start thing about a future without Nancy Pelosi? Sooner or later, we Democrats will have a bad election. That is just a fact of American history. We also know that speakers who lose their gavels due to scandal or election losses do not last much longer in Congress, the risk of holding such a lofty post. When that day comes (hopefully no time soon), San Francisco will have a Congressional vacancy for the first time since 1987. The City's Central Democratic Committee has a very strong "wait your turn" attitude and the Burton Machine still lives, BUT no one is going to want to wait another 20+ for the seat to be open again, so the question is: Who will run when Madame Speaker retires? Here is my short list of possibilities.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The crowd was electric over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who thankedCalifornia Democrats for their role in making the Congress blue lastNovember. Her words reflected the spirit of a party exalted about newaccountability in Washington and hungry for a new president. "Ourfounding fathers knew we didn't have to choose between security andliberty," Pelosi said about the Democratic approach to foreign policy.Andaudience members held their "thank you Nancy Pelosi" signs high, manysimply smiling at the sight of California's "favorite daughter" asSpeaker.