Why again is Steny Hoyer the majority leader?

Spineless House Democrats are poised to give telecoms complete amnesty tomorrow, effectively giving them immunity from prosecution for illegally disclosing private information to an illegal government surveillance program (via Glenn Greenwald):

So all the Attorney General has to do is recite those magic words — the President requested this eavesdropping and did it in order to save us from the Terrorists — and the minute he utters those words, the courts are required to dismiss the lawsuits against the telecoms, no matter how illegal their behavior was.

That’s the “compromise” Steny Hoyer negotiated and which he is now — according to very credible reports — pressuring every member of the Democratic caucus to support. It’s full-scale, unconditional amnesty with no inquiry into whether anyone broke the law. In the U.S. now, thanks to the Democratic Congress, we’ll have a new law based on the premise that the President has the power to order private actors to break the law, and when he issues such an order, the private actors will be protected from liability of any kind on the ground that the Leader told them to do it — the very theory that the Nuremberg Trial rejected.

I’ll post more in just a bit on the new warrantless eavesdropping powers George Bush is going to have under this law. They’re vast and precisely the kind of powers that were abused by our Government for decades prior to FISA. Returning to that era is going to be part of the legacy not just of George Bush, but of this Democratic-controlled Congress.

Tim F. at Balloon Juice wonders aloud why Hoyer decided to capitulate to the White House. I’m not sure why he’s surprised; back in 2007 Hoyer tried to introduce similar legislation, but was blocked by more progressive Democrats.  With the notable exception of the Military Commissions Act (which Hoyer voted against), Hoyer has been pretty damn friendly to the Bush administration’s national security agenda. 

This should only remind progressives that once we’ve reached our first goal – electing a Democratic president – our next goal should be electing more and better Democrats.