by Damozel | At Crooks and Liars, SilentPatriot writes:
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who along with Russ Feingold has been the fiercest defender of Constitutional rights, took to the floor last night to deliver a two-hour impassioned speech in defense of the rule of law, and offered a scathing critique of the sham FISA bill about to become law....
Dodd’s sincere respect and concern for this country’s sacred principles and his passionate defense last night of those principles was the most uplifting yet depressing thing I have ever seen; uplifting because it proved to me that there are leaders out there who still give a damn, but depressing because, with rare exceptions, he is alone. When the history of the Bush years is written and future generations look back and wonder how we sank so low, how an abject failure like George W. Bush successfully transformed our national character, at least we can look back to times like these and know that there were some true patriots sounding the alarm.
Dodd deserves praise for standing up for these principles. Although I mentioned his speech earlier, and quoted sections from some of his speech, I don't feel that the praise I gave him was strong enough. SilentPatriot's is an appropriate tribute.
In the meantime, the Senate voted 80-15 to proceed on the bill. Ian Welsh at FireDogLake lists the 15 Democratic Senators who, as dday says, stood up for the Constitution by voting against cloture. This is the vote that really mattered.
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)
At FDL, Ian Lake writes:
The FISA Cloture vote just passed. The Senate will now consider the motion to proceed with the bill, then they'll head to the bill itself.... Various motions will be put forward to strip immunity, odds are they will fail. Then a number of the 80 who voted to restrict debate will vote against FISA so they can say they were against the bill. However this was the real vote, and the rest is almost certainly nothing but kabuki for the rubes.
Clinton, Obama, and McCain did not vote. But of course, we already know McCain's position --- and Obama's.
Obama and McCain were both absent, as was Clinton. Unimpressive, but unsurprising, though I suppose I'm disappointed by Clinton (Obama has made it clear he didn't intend to try and stop the bill.) Clinton and Obama will claim there was no point since it wasn't close. But, with their leadership, it might well have gone the other way.
Yes, it might have. While I understand that Clinton is currently in delicate negotiations with Obama, I am deeply disappointed, if unsurprised.
At Shakesville, Jeff Fecke writes:
Dear Barack and Hillary:
Thanks for standing together and not doing a damn thing to stop the FISA "compromise." This unity stuff is totally awesome, and I for one can't wait to see what the Democratic Party caves on next. At least my pre-Iowa support of Chris Dodd appears to have been justified.
The Politico has a piece on the disappointment of the progressive wing of the party and why it doesn't matter.
“It angers the blogosphere to its core,” said Jane Hamsher, founder of the popular blog Firedoglake.com. “We want to be able to know: What did you do? If we can get that information, we can make sure they don’t do that again. We can get the public engaged.”
Obama’s decision to support the bill with the immunity provision was not surprising, she said. Republicans frame critics of such security measures as soft on terrorism, and the presumptive Democratic nominee probably does not want it used against him.
“[A] lot of people tried to convince themselves that he was a progressive hero, and I think they were disappointed,” Hamsher said. “You can feel a real shift in the zeitgeist online.”
Still, the disillusionment goes only so far. The liberal blogosphere’s most recognizable name, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of Daily Kos, said Monday on MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann”: “Let’s be honest, it is either Obama or John McCain. So we really don’t have much of a choice.”
Thank God for Glenn Greenwald, who takes Olbermann's recent defense of Obama into a backroom to talk to it --- and only Greenwald emerges.
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I also was moved to quote extended passages of Dodd's speech to the Senate. His courage is all the more poignant for its lack of company.
It appears that the Democratic leadership would be willing to sell out on most any right we hold dear in order to immunize themselves against charges that they are soft on terror near election time.
Posted by: billkav | June 26, 2008 at 06:18 AM