As I outlined yesterday, most of the Democrats failed to fulfill their duty to defend the Constitution. I praised Senators Dodd and Feingold, who were the most public with their opposition to the FISA bill which gave the telecoms immunity for their violations of Americans’ civil rights. The vote has now taken place and now we know that Dodd and Feingold aren’t the only two who were the heroes of this story, though they were the main two. The Senators who defended your civil rights are:
Senator Joseph Biden(D-DE), Senator Barbara Boxer(D-CA), Senator Sherrod Brown(D-OH), Senator Maria Cantwell(D-WA), Senator Chris Dodd(D-CT), Senator Dick Durbin(D-IL), Senator Russ Feingold(D-WI), Senator Tom Harkin(D-IA), Senator John Kerry(D-MA), Senator Frank Lautenberg(D-NJ), Senator Patrick Leahy(D-VT), Senator Robert Menendez(D-NJ), Senator Bernie Sanders(D-VT), Senator Chuck Schumer(D-NY), and Senator Ron Wyden(D-OH.)
Now, you’ll notice that no Republicans defended your rights but the vast majority of Democrats joined them in failure. Senator Obama didn’t vote but said:
“My view on FISA has always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people.”
Senator McCain also didn’t vote.
Senator Dodd explained his disappointment with his colleagues’ failure:
“We’re closing the door, never to know why this happened, who ordered it, why did they avoid [the courts], what was behind their thinking, and that is a dangerous step for us.”
Senator Feingold explained his sorrow to The Young Turks’ radio show:
“It’s the latest chapter of running for cover when the Administration tries to intimidate Democrats on national security issues, it’s the most embarrassing failure of the Democrats I’ve seen since 2006, other than the failure to vote to end the Iraq war. These are the two real sad aspects of an otherwise pretty good record. It’s letting George Bush and Dick Cheney have their way even though they’re that unpopular and on their way out. It’s really incredible.”
So today the government has shown a willingness to take the 4th amendment and gave you the 2nd.
The photo used was uploaded to Flickr by reubenaingber who licensed it under a Creative Commons Attribution License and my use of the photo in no way indicates an endorsement of the article from reubenaingber.
