There is mourning in Washington DC tonight as the police state apologists could not get a bill together that would continue the Patriot Act. As the clock was ticking down on the Senate Floor, Senator Dan Coats rudely refused to yield to Senator Rand Paul, who had vowed to fight it along with NSA spying provisions tooth and nail. He instead deferred to John McCain, who would have been enmeshed in perpetual warfare in Iraq had he been elected in 2008.
McCain and Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) were speaking about the National Security Agency's (NSA) phone "metadata" collection program when Paul tried to ask a question. Coats said he had not yielded the floor to Paul, effectively blocking the 2016 presidential candidate from speaking. Coats then yielded to McCain for a question, instead.
"The senator from Kentucky needs to learn the rules of the Senate," McCain said. "Maybe the senator from Kentucky should know the rules of the Senate."
Perhaps the public needs to know about the
numerous contributions from the Military Industrial Complex to John McCain.
Rand Paul railed against what he saw as unfair rigging of debate time in a frantic effort to get the Patriot Act reauthorized:
Coats and McCain used up the Republican debate time, and when Paul requested to use five minutes from the Democratic side, McCain objected.
Speaking to a staffer on the Senate floor, the Kentucky Republican said that "I sat here and watched the clock for 30 minutes. It was not equally divided time."
Afterwards,
Rand Paul triumphantly declared:
"The Patriot Act will expire tonight," said Paul, a 2016 presidential candidate, after hours of ultimately fruitless debate on how to get a reform bill across the finish line that would have preserved important national security provisions.
While Rand Paul's triumph may be temporary, since the Senate can come back in session again on Tuesday and Wednesday, expect more fireworks, fallout, and recrimination.
But in reality, there is no rush to renew the Patriot Act, given that the NSA program which is at the heart of the act has failed to capture one terrorist. That means that the best thing to do for the country is to find a way to protect this country against terrorism in a way that will respect the Constitution and the principles of the Founding Fathers.