FISA

U.S. Rep. Steny HoyerA coalition of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) supporters and leading liberal bloggers are unleashing a "Moneybomb" on Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville) and two other Democratic U.S. House members today in an effort to punish them for supporting the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act compromise earlier this summer.

The group, 'Strangebedfellows,' is comprised of BreakTheMatrix.com bloggers Trevor Lyman and Rick Williams, who organized huge online fundraising days for Paul's Republican presidential candidacy, have teamed up with the Democratic-leaning Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com and Jane Hamsher of firedoglake.com on this issue they share a passion for. U.S.

Paul's online fundraising had already raised eyebrows in political circles when Lyman, largely independent of the campaign, organized a single day push that raised $4.2 million from more than 37,000 contributors in about 24 hours. He scheduled it on Nov. 5, 2007 to coincide with Guy Fawkes' Day, famous for the plot to blowup Great Britain's Parliament that day in 1605. On Dec. 16, 2007, the same day as the Boston Tea Party, they set a new record with $6.04 million.

The group chose Aug. 8 for the big push because it's the anniversary of President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation for "his lawbreaking and surveillance abuses."

It's nice to know that even with historically low poll numbers, Bush still has friends he can lean on.

More from PolitickerMD.com: Cardin, Mikulski split over immunity in FISA bill

With the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passing the U.S. Senate today on a 69-28 vote, Kentucky's Republican U.S. Senators applauded the actions of the Democratically-controlled institution and the provisions of the bill.

"Today the Senate ensured that our national security officials have the tools they need to help protect our country from future terrorist attacks," said Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville).

In his role as Minority party leader in the Senate, McConnell often halts the favored legislation of Democrats with the power of a real or threatened filibuster.

Such a procedural tactic requires 60 votes to thwart - a number Senate Democrats do not possess on their own.

Today, however, both parties largely came together to support the FISA bill despite the controversy the bill created in some circles.

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance program is vital to ensuring that our intelligence agencies have the authority and resources they need to monitor terrorist activities around the world and help protect America from potential terrorist plots," said Kentucky's junior Senator, Jim Bunning (R-Southgate), in a statement "By passing this bill today we have made our country safer and more secure."

Telecom immunity. Public financing. Faith-based initiatives. NAFTA. Just words?

Robocalls directed against Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville) for compromising with the White House on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies went out last week, according to liberal blog Firedoglake.com. The calls were recorded by the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, a community activist who purportedly resides in the congressman's Fifth district, though he identifies himself as living in Washington D.C.

The calls were paid for by the blog's Blue America PAC and Color of Change, the blog reports. Blue America has raised almost $327,000 to target Democratic lawmakers who voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act compromise that Hoyer brokered.

The influential liberal blog Daily Kos is putting more than 100 centrist congressional Democrats on notice that they may face primary challenges from the left in 2010 for their support of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Several on that list are California representatives, including Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) and Ellen Tauscher (D-Alamo).

In his first post to his Daily Kos diary in almost three months, U.S Senate candidate and Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) urged the U.S Congress to oppose the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 on Tuesday.

Merkley sees controversy in the part of the bill which gives immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in surveillance on domestic citizens.

"The bill will force federal district courts to immediately dismiss any cases against telecommunications companies that participated in illegal surveillance," Merkley wrote. "This is unacceptable. The Constitution of the United States was violated.  Over several years telecommunications companies turned over the records of millions of innocent Americans to the federal government without proper oversight and without a warrant."

A quote from an aide "close to" Steny Hoyer raises the question of whether the Majority Leader understands the aim of bloggers targeting him.