It looks as though the "Democratic majority" in the Senate may cave on what Vice President Dick Cheney calls "modernization" of the FISA bill -- and that means caving on the issue of granting telecoms retroactive immunity from prosecution for violating the privacy of American citizens. The Washington Post reports this afternoon:
Vice President Cheney called on Congress today to permanently extend the Protect America Act as the White House launched a drive to secure the tools it says are needed to fight a continuing terrorist threat beyond the law's Feb. 1 expiration.
In a speech to a sympathetic audience at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, Cheney also said the law must include immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that assisted the U.S. government's electronic surveillance efforts after Sept. 11, 2001.
Two prominent bloggers -- Glenn Greenwald (Salon) and Jane Hamsher (Firedoglake) are joining with others in an effort to pressure Senators Obama and Clinton to take an active stand on this issue. Quite apart from giving corporate America full access to our private communications, the last thing most of us want is to release the Bush/Cheney administration -- and future administrations -- from their obligation to protect and defend the Constitution.
Can you help? Jane Hamsher writes:
John Edwards should challenge his rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to go back to Washington, DC and fight against retroactive immunity for the telecoms.
The Republicans are not going to let Reid punt and extend the Protect America Act for another 18 months so it looks like the FISA bill is going to come back up again on Monday. Chris Dodd's objection to Unanimous Consent still stands, so they will pick up in the middle of the Motion to Proceed debate.
John Edwards is the perfect person to lead with this message. Such an action would illustrate his genuine commitment to change and fighting vested interests in Washington, and hopefully it will channel that intense anti-immunity passion toward his campaign. He won't be able to participate in the filibuster himself, but by offering to leave the campaign trail and go back to DC with Clinton and Obama he'll be able to show leadership in challenging all Democrats to put thoughts of personal gain aside and join together in the fight to save the constitution.
And she quotes from Glenn Greenwald's appeal:
It will be increasingly difficult to listen to Edwards, Obama and Clinton tout their supreme leadership attributes and their commitment to "changing the way Washington works" if they choose to sit by, more or less mute, and allow such a blatant and corrupt evisceration of the rule of law -- and such a vast and permanent expansion of the limitless surveillance state -- to occur without a fight. Any one of them, or all three, has a unique opportunity to actually demonstrate with actions, rather than pretty speeches, their commitment to the principles they claim to espouse.
As Hamsher adds: You can email Senator Edwards directly at john@johnedwards.com. Please help if you can...
