What does FISA mean for November?

In case you hadn't heard, the House Democrats have reached a "compromise" with House Republicans over Telecom amnesty in renewing wireless surveillance.

The Democrats currently hold a majority of seats as well as an extremely unpopular president with which to battle. Bascially, they have all the leverage they need to overturn this illegal operation. On paper, the Dems should capture and retain House seats in droves this fall.

So why the cave-in? There are various explanations floating about and I'm not sure really which one, if any, I believe, so I'll leave that question to the pundits. I'd rather focus on the implications for the general election in November. The wave of success seen by the Democrats in the 2006 mid-term elections was due in large part to voters' frustration with out-of-control corruption and incompetence in the Republican-led legislative chambers. Thus, weren't the outcomes of those elections supposed to prevent this compromise? As the House of Representatives are up for re-election, will we see House Democrats challenged as they didn't deliver on their promises? Or will they get re-elected thanks to the awful Republican name brand, suggesting that a spineless Democrat is still better than a Bush-backing Republican.

I don't know what to make out of this mess.

On the bright side, Obama's camp is reviewing the proposed legislation and will comment on it in the very near future. Let's hope he shows more backbone than the House Democrats.

It's still early so we'll have to see how FISA and other issues play roles this election season.

Update: H/T to BonzoDogBand for his excellent post at DailyKos regarding the strange circumstances surrounding this vote. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann on Countdown last evening that the compromise centered on Democrats being complicit for prior authorizations. Do we need a complete turnover of representatives who can fight for our constitutional rights without worrying about legal issues?

Update II: Here's the roll call:

Republican 188 yeas, 1 nay, 10 no votes.
Democratic 105 yeas, 128 nays, 3 no votes.

Notice a pattern? Not much compromising on the Republican side of the aisle.

Update III: Obama has approved the bill, in part. Read the whole thing here.