Maine Owl

Telcos, not voters, dear to U.S. Senate majority leader and most Democrats

This is just a follow-up to the FISA revision/telco immunity legislation delayed this week in the U.S. through action spearheaded by Connecticut senator and presidential candidate Chris Dodd. Glenn Greenwald posts today concerning some statements given to Washington Post Congressional reporter Paul Kane revealing Democratic attitudes, especially those of Harry Reid, towards Senator Dodd and his little FISA revision show against Telco immunity:

Greenwald: Notice, too, who is smearing Dodd's motives here. It isn't Dick Cheney or Mitch McConnell. Instead, it's Harry Reid and anonymous, cowardly Democrats whispering in Paul Kane's ear about Dodd's manipulative "grandstanding" and proclaiming that Dodd will ultimately fail, dismissing the notion that he achieved anything other than delaying their well-laid plan to ensure that the President has everything he wants.

So here we have one of the very few acts of the last year by a Democrat in Congress which has actually engaged and energized people; made them feel as though someone was listening to them and taking a stand for what they believe; something that enables actual citizens to have some influence on the political process; and, most of all, an effort that at least disrupted the relentless Congressional march to capitulate to all of Bush's demands.

And in response, Harry Reid and his mewling anonymous Democratic allies immediately recruit the Washington Post's Congressional reporter to attack what Dodd has achieved, demean his motives with a ferocity that they never display in opposing George W. Bush, and assure everyone that their will to do the President's bidding will be realized despite Dodd's temporary interference.

I don't think this is too hard to understand. Telcos like AT&T and Verizon have a lot to lose here if by some crook the courts hold them responsible for flagrantly violating black letter law prohibiting warrantless surveillance. Harry Reid's personal campaign war chest and those of many other Democrats, not to mention the Republicans, are well stuffed by Telco contributions. Now, partly that's because the media/telco corporate policy and consolidation agenda requires big Congressional guns to do the shooting down of the public interest.

Take John Kerry, for example, who is massively funded by Telco interests and the network of law firms that push their agendas. You've gotta believe that none of these politician-employing folks are very happy with Dodd, and his helpers Feingold and Kennedy, keeping massive Telco liability on the table for one second longer, voters and public be damned.

Connecticut senator temporarily blocks illegal surveillance immunity for Telcos

In a previous post I decried the Congressional Democrats as a bunch of capitulators, citing the complex pending legislation revising the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to grant immunity for past illegal acts to the major Telecommunications companies. Now Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has been forced by Chris Dodd's action to delay consideration of, what the New York Times calls, this "bad bill." It's at best a brief win. But it's a win thanks to Senator Dodd.

Maine Owl's sister site, peacecast.us has very significant posts featuring Maine Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Shenna Bellows in speeches and an August interview. Rolled up in the major case now before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a Maine case concerning Verizon's phone records snooping on behalf of warrantless Bush domestic intel gathering. Presumably the immunity that would be granted by the revision would end this case and make Verizon and the other telcos untouchable for illegal acts of spying.

Now I want to give MSNBC's Countdown program and guest host Alison Stewart huge kudos for they way they have reported this story the last couple of days. Stewart did an excellent, lengthy piece on Monday including an illuminating interview with Air America's Sam Seder, and then did a post-game interview with Senator Dodd on Tuesday.

I am embedding the YouTube video of both of these segments below. But first I want to appreciate the fine writing in Stewart's Monday setup that captures the essence and significance of the issue. I especially like the way Stewart sharply contrasts candidate Dodd with the other Democratic senators running for president. Why can't we have more of this on television??

Alison Stewart (Dec. 17): The next time anyone tells you no one can make a difference in Washington, that no one person can get anything done, tell them about what happened today. In our number three story tonight, the senate began debating a bill that would strip you of the right to sue phone companies for eavesdropping on you.

President Bush is pushing to give blanket immunity to any phone company that agreed to let the government listen in on phone and track e-mail traffic passing through its lines without going through the special top secret courts known as the FISA courts. It is far more than a legal battle for several reasons. One, the three dozen lawsuits against phone companies offer one of the only ways America can hope to find out exactly what Mr. Bush has done. Two, immunity for the phone companies could set a precedent for other companies assisting the government in certain activity, such as renditioning.

Democratic presidential candidates oppose immunity, but when the FISA debate began today, only one had left Iowa to fight the battle in Washington. Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster as long as he could to block the immunity provision from the overall FISA bill which is intended to bring the government‘s electronic eavesdropping within shouting distance of constitutionality. Despite the absence of other candidates, Dodd did get help on the floor today....

Here is the Monday video:

MSNBC Countdown December 17,2007

And here is Tuesday's interview with Senator Dodd:

MSNBC Countdown December 18,2007

I've not in the past been a great fan of Chris Dodd. He's very tight with banking and other financial interests. But in supporting civil liberties against the surveillance state and in opposing the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment virtually declaring war on Iran, he has earned a lot of respect from my point of view.