Immunity from Breaking the Law (FISA discussion "a national damn embarrassment") [View All]

by Hunter at dailykos

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/24/171836/135/876/442554

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There's only one constituency in America that wants this absurdly broad and transparently asinine immunity legislation: the people who broke the law. And lo and behold, I imagine every person and company in America would love to have an after-the-fact declaration of immunity for whatever they've done that was illegal. Enron, Blackwater... the list could be endless. But in nearly all cases, we're not stupid enough to give it to them: we recognize laws exist for a reason, and recognize the even more audacious notion that laws should actually still exist even for the powerful among us.

Why Senators like Rockefeller, Bayh, Mikulski, Pryor, Salazar, McCaskill, Nelson, Nelson, Carper, Landrieu, Inouye, and Johnson can't figure this out implies nothing but pandering and corruption. Why other members of our party are not standing more forcefully with Dodd to denounce this obvious abuse is similarly insulting.

It is offensive in the extreme that we are having to battle our own government and members of our own party -- including Harry Reid, who inexplicably has tried to shove this immunity-laden bill down the Senate's throat for some time now -- over this very simple premise. You don't pass legislation that says illegal acts are legal if you're "important" enough, or "connected" enough, or have enough lobbyists.

I understand why the Republican Party continues to push these premises -- as the party dedicated towards doing whatever the most powerful American companies want, good or bad, it's predictable behavior. But the Democratic Party should at least pretend at a higher sense of integrity. It's shameful and embarrassing, from Rockefeller to all the others, and all involved parties should pick themselves up and figure out where their basic sense of national ethics has gone. If you're not willing to stand up for the most central principles of constitutional government -- the rule of law applies equally to all parties -- at least have the common decency not to actively thwart it on the behalf of those that may petition you for exactly that.

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