Bush today welcomed the Senate vote, calling the bill “critical to America’s safety” and “long overdue.” He said in a statement, “This vital intelligence bill will allow our national security professionals to quickly and effectively monitor the plans of terrorists outside the United States, while respecting the liberties of the American people. . . . It will ensure that those companies whose assistance is necessary to protect the country will, themselves, be protected from lawsuits for past or future cooperation with the government.”

Senator Barak Obama voted for the bill – which, as Keith Olbermann said earlier, will probably be seen as some sort of political weakness, even though most Republicans voted for the bill as well.

John McCain didn’t bother to vote at all, and instead spent the day campaigning. He also predictably criticized Obama for voting for the the same bill that he too supported – and would have voted for – if he hadn’t been too damn busy.

Interestingly, while there is quite a bit of commentary about how the bill blocks lawsuits of Telecom providers who aided and abetted the Bush administration’s illegal domestic wiretapping scheme (for our own good, you know), there is relatively little commentary about whether Administration officials or Telecom execs could face future criminal charges. Now that would be something to see.