MoveOn And Top Bloggers To Launch Campaign Pressuring Hillary And Obama To Back Dodd On FISA

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/moveon_to_launch_campaign_pressuring_hillary_and_obama_to.php

MoveOn And Top Bloggers To Launch Campaign Pressuring Hillary And Obama To Back Dodd On FISA
By Greg Sargent - October 23, 2007, 4:20PM

Another interesting twist in the Dodd-FISA story.

In a move that will up the pressure on Hillary and Barack Obama to stand firm against the Senate telecom immunity FISA bill, MoveOn and a dozen top progressive blogs will launch an all-out campaign tomorrow to pressure the two Senators into publicly declaring their support for Chris Dodd's threat to place a hold on and filibuster the bill, Election Central has learned.

MoveOn spokesman Adam Green tells me that the group will send out an email to "thousands" of its members tomorrow morning, and thousands more throughout the day, asking them to call the offices of Hillary and Obama and demand that they publicly affirm their support for Dodd.

"We'll be asking Obama and Clinton to publicly get Chris Dodd's back and say in a statement that they will explicitly support his hold and filibuster," Green tells me. "Pretty much this is the exact same ask made to Joe Biden in a Washington Post chat. The question was, Will you join Chris Dodd? He said Yes."

If Hillary and Obama don't comply, Green added, "it would send an unfortunate signal to Democratic voters about whether they're willing to stand up to George Bush. The idea is to get Democrats to stand on principle and exercise the powers of their office to stop Bush from covering up how far he went in illegally spying on the private emails and phone calls of innocent Americans."

In another move that points to the significant degree of coordination among the top liberal blogs on the FISA issue, Green says that the following bloggers will also be directing their readers to call Hillary and Obama's offices and press them on this:

DailyKos, Atrios, OpenLeft, Firedoglake, MyDD, Glenn Greenwald, Crooksandliars, AmericaBlog, Digby, Taylor Marsh

I've checked in with these folks, and virtually all have gotten back to me confirming their involvement.

In the long run it's unclear whether Dodd's hold and filibuster threat, whatever backing it gets from Hillary and Obama, if any, can really hold up the FISA legislation. Advisers to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have said that while they're willing to work with Dodd to assuage his concerns, they expect that the bill will go to the floor despite his objections. It's also unclear what the final bill will look like; the bill has only just emerged from markup in the Senate intel committee, and there's some opposition to telecom immunity among members of the Judiciary Committee.

Either way, opposition from Hillary or Obama, or both, could throw some significant obstacles in the way of the bill. And even putting aside whatever long term impact this has on the legislation itself, such a campaign by MoveOn could at the least make telecom immunity an issue in the Dem Primary.

We've checked in with the Hillary and Obama campaigns for comment and we'll bring you their responses when we get them.

Move On, I hope they are successfully in their effort. Reid intending to ignore Senator Dodd's hold on the FISA bill makes me question who does Reid really represent.

From my read it offers immunity to get the records. And we need the records to get Bush.

retroactive immunity for the telecoms.

The telecoms have likely committed real crimes against thousands of real Americans in an effort to discover 'potential' terrorists.

We don't even know the extent of what they have done, and you're perfectly happy to forgive them already.

This is a real test.
Will Hillary side with the Corporations or the American People?

We have no idea what are in those records, we have no idea just what we would be passing a blanket immuinity for...like Pig in a Poke? Just hand out immunity to criminals so we can get the evidence they actually committed the crime...lets stop up all the holes we have to even get at these thugs, legally...just grant them blanket immunity.

We can't get Bush if we give them immunity. What they did was a felony, each time they wirtetapped illegally. NOT voting on this bill is how we get Bush. This bill is terrible for democracy.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/obama_i_would_support_dodds_filibuster.php

He just hopes it won't be because he hopes the bill will be corrected in committee. Wishful thinking, IMHO, but whatever.

of us!

Maybe he should have been rude for the sake of being rude?

If the bad clauses get taken out, obviously they will end the hold, but the battle between the "left" dems and harry Reid is happening now.
I learned last night, that instead of filibustering, now you place a "hold" which means you will filibuster. that is happening now, so now would be a good time to take the position. It is not a bad position, or anything to be ashamed of, or sad about. It is what needs to be done.

I just would not characterize this as "it is being filibustered **now**". But that's a pure technicality, see.

Like I said, Obama just seems to forsake being rude just for the sake of being rude. There is no "battle" in reality until that bill comes out of committee, though. Obama's already tweaked Reid's nose lately over the proposed FCC chair and probably isn't looking for a fight that may not be necessary but like I said, I think that's wishful thinking.

As opposed to Dodd's, which word is, Reid isn't going to honor, which is hardball against your own caucus. Obama and Clinton are both being pushed to support the expected filibuster in advance but neither have gone out of their way to pick this fight. Candidates with less to lose have been supporting the rebellion against Reid more loudly. The bloggers say Obama's position is cowardly and allows the telecoms to win the fight behind closed doors. I don't know for sure and therefore don't pretend to know better, but I'd like the final result to be opposition to telecom immunity, sure.

However, just for the record, telecom immunity isn't for the sake of the telecoms. It's to prevent the telecoms from selling out the admin over its illegal actions which remain hidden behind the cloak of executive secrecy.

Are they willing to stand up for the constitution? It will be good thing to know before going into the voting booth.

With 20 senators on board, how can the filibuster possibly fail?

Still, what better way to really HIT corporate-serving legislation than make them subject to the rule of law.

OMG!!! How can any, I mean ANY representative back legislation basically dismissing crimes against US, against OUR Constitutional rights and protections, against laws protecting US from tyranny?

:wow:

:wtf:

My numbness to these criminal invasions of MY LIFE just disappeared. I see people abuse small powers over others all the time. This involves a HUGE POWER so easily subject to abuse,...all ready having been shown to be abused.

the bill would allow them to get a warrant for san francisco, or democraqts, or whatever group of people is "dangerous"....

:pals: