IMO, this is partly designed to enable the entirely predictable and obvious 'next step', that is the "legal" granting of exemptions to "recognized news agencies" e.g. The New York Times Company. (Remember saint Steve Jobs' comments on "nation of bloggers".)
This legislation wouldn't touch their websites but the aggregators out there would be fiznucked. We cannot let it come to that. We can't!
Think long term. SOPA is nothing. Right around the corner is the man-machine interface tech, nano-tech, surveillance-focused-AI, etc. And I sure as hell am not pinning my hopes on Sergey-Brins-of-this-world's good judgement on these matters, and neither should you. They participated in SOPA protests because it directly threatened their business model. They were mum on NDAA, for example.
I do imagine that this effort will reemerge in a form that alpha0 suggests. They will try to pacify the largest opponents to SOPA, creating exemptions for their class of service, and make another go at it. It's likely Hubski won't have an exemption.