From Kicking Ass:
Politics trumps freedom
Yesterday, Democrats in the House stood up and took real action for civil liberties when they voted to limit the sweeping powers in the Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11. And if the Republican leadership hadn't resorted once again to their usual dirty tricks, that fight would have been successful.
As the 15 minutes allotted for the vote drew to a close, the Freedom to Read Protection Act — which would have taken away the Patriot Act power of the Justice Department to secretly search bookstore and library records — looked like it would pass 219 to 201.
But the Republican leadership — as they have done on several occasions — extended the vote while they fiercely lobbied their own members until enough had switched votes for a 210-210 tie, defeating the bill.
"You win some, and some get stolen," was the way conservative Republican C.L. Butch Otter (R-ID), who supported the bill, described his party's strong-arm tactics.
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