Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

The FISA/telecom immunity debate going on right now in the U.S. Senate is in many ways a classic Democrat-Republican argument. On one side, you have a vigorous defense of corporations (in this case, the phone companies who complied with the Bush administration's requests to pass along the private communications of Americans) by Republicans, and a repudiation of "trial lawyers" who would damage their businesses and ruin their profits with "excessive lawsuits." On the other, Democrats defend the trial system, arguing that people's right to sue should be preserved. Of course, there's more to it than that. As Sen. Chris Dodd is very effectively arguing right now, there is also the issue of standing up to the Bush administration (at last,) and "standing up for the rule of law," and for the premise that no man, no president, and no company is above it, versus the continuing Republican push to emasculate the courts,and so to make the executive branch practically untouchable, even if it breaks the law (so long as the executive is a Republican.) But underlying the arguments, are those age-old tensions between the two parties and two of their leading interest groups: corporations for the GOP and attorneys for the Dems.

That said, Sen. Barack Obama could, in my opinion, vigorously oppose, even fillibuster, the FISA bill so long as it contains immunity for the telecoms, with very little downside. The most obvious downside would be that right wing groups would accuse him of caving to Moveon.org, which apparently doesn't understand the concept of letting the candidate control the message (hence, that baby ad, and the present FISA demands.) Obama could make a very strong argument beyond the civil liberties issues, which sadly, many Americans are willing to look past in the quest for security. He could argue, very simply, that "in securing America, the Congress of the United States should not be in the business of protecting big business from ordinary Americans."

If accused of trying to weaken national security by taking away the incentive for "good, patriotic corporations" to help the government monitor "the terrorists," he could simply reply, "I don't think the Republican Party, which misdirected us into a war with Iraq, and which can't seem to locate Osama bin Laden even with wiretaps on every phone and email account in America and abroad, is in a position to lecture me."

If accused again, he could simply state that "besides, my goal is to do what's right for good, patriotic Americans. Republicans have been helping out the corporatioons long enough."

Or as Chris Dodd just put it, "the world is not going to collapse, the sky is not gonna fall, if a few companies have to explain to their customers why they vacuumed up their personal information."

Dodd could have been one hell of a communications guy.

UPDATE: Chris Dodd may have just made some news. It sounded like he just said he would fillibuster the FISA bill tomorrow, or prevent other legislation, on housing, from coming to the floor.

If and when the vote happens, you've got to wonder whether close proximity to the telecom industry will affect individual Senators' votes. And guess who is, by far, the leading recipient of telecom industry money? According to OpenSecrets.org, it's John McCain. (Logically, since they were the presidential front runners, McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama form the top three, with Obama lagging well behind the other two...) Dodd is showing some courage tonight, given that he also makes the top 20 (rounding it out at number 20.)

Top 20 Senators (donatons from telephone utilities)
Rank Candidate Amount

1 McCain, John (R) $332,795
2 Clinton, Hillary (D) $223,092
3 Obama, Barack (D) $185,898
4 Rockefeller, Jay (D-WV) $48,000
5 Stevens, Ted (R-AK) $33,450
6 Graham, Lindsey (R-SC) $31,100
7 Pryor, Mark (D-AR) $29,950
8 Collins, Susan M (R-ME) $29,850
9 Baucus, Max (D-MT) $28,000
10 Lautenberg, Frank R (D-NJ) $23,800
11 Sununu, John E (R-NH) $22,600
12 Durbin, Dick (D-IL) $20,850
13 McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $18,750
14 Wicker, Roger (R-MS) $18,000
15 Smith, Gordon H (R-OR) $16,750
16 Brownback, Sam (R-KS) $14,200
17 Landrieu, Mary L (D-LA) $13,750
18 Roberts, Pat (R-KS) $13,250
18 Dorgan, Byron L (D-ND) $13,250
20 Dodd, Christopher J (D-CT) $13,000

That's important information, since the stench of campaign cash is already hanging over Democrats in the House.