the unsurprising fisa vote

It’s worth looking over the votes for and against FISA.  Here’s the house breakdown.  The Republicans ayed it 227 to nayed it 7.  The Democrats ayed it 74 to nayed it 111.  This was back in September.

The Senate approved it 73 to 23.  See here.  The two Republicans voting nay were Paul of Kentucky and Lee of Utah — the two “tea party” of the Paulian stripe I suppose you can say.  You can make sense of the Democrats voting yah and nay on your own … I’m vaguely surprised by Whitehouse of Rhode Island only because of past lobs.

Obama, naturally, signed the deal… something he once campaigned against… a promise you knew he’d relinquish based on votes taken during his brief Senate career.

Also worth a looksee: the geographic contours of the Fiscal Cliff vote.  The 16 Democratic no votes are an odd mix of liberals and “blue dogs” — for instance, McDermott and Matheson.

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