Olbermann's Special Comment on FISA

I'm sure Dick Cheney's admission that telecoms handed over private communications records without a warrant to the Bush Administration had nothing at all to do with this. (H/T to C&L.):

...But the moment he says anything else, any doubt that the telecoms knowingly broke the law, is out the window, and with it, any chance that even the Republicans who are fighting this like they were trying to fend off terrorists using nothing but broken beer bottles and swear words couldn't consent to retroactively immunize corporate criminals.

Which is why the Vice President probably shouldn't have phoned in to the Rush Limbaugh Propaganda-Festival yesterday.

Sixth sentence out of Mr. Cheney's mouth: The FISA bill is about, quote, "retroactive liability protection for the companies that have worked with us and helped us prevent further attacks against the United States."

Oops. Mr. Cheney is something of a loose cannon, of course. But he kind of let the wrong cat out of the bag there.

The Senate agreement? Via CQ (sorry, no link), a bit of procedure is explained:

...After days of complex negotiations over a floor procedure for legislation (S 2248) rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511), Senate leaders reached agreement Thursday evening on which amendments to allow.

The Senate is now set to hold a debate, beginning Feb. 4 and lasting two days, on a dozen amendments that will address some of the bill's most controversial aspects.