Specter lied: he did propose Amnesty for FISA violations

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Specter has consistently said he’s going to stand up for the Constitution and stand against this administration’s illegal wiretapping. But time and time again, has caved to Whitehouse pressure to carry water for the administration. When it came out that Specter was going to include a retroactive pardon for any administration lawbreaking involving FISA, there was widespread outrage, including from this blog.

Specter immediate appeared on CNN denying that there was anything like Amnesty in his proposed bill:
BLITZER: Are you, as the Washington Post reported, ready to give what they call blanket amnesty to anyone who authorized these wiretaps?
SPECTER: Absolutely not. That was an erroneous report. If anybody has violated the law, they'll be held accountable, both as to criminal conduct and as to civil conduct. And in no way did I promise amnesty or immunity or letting anybody off the hook.
Well, according to Glen Greenwald, Specter was lying through his teeth. Greenwald obtained this copy of Specter’s proposed markup legislation, which does contain language:

(2) Retroactive effect -- The amendments made by paragraph (1) shall be construed to have the same effective date as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
So either there’s some big mix up or hoax here, or Specter is a craven flunky of the Bush administration without even the spine to admit it openly. Do not count on this man (the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee) to protect us from Dear Leader Bush.

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