FISA: TELECOMS WRITING THE RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY PROVISIONS FOR HOYER WHILE BLUE DOGS TIE THEMSELVES TO BUSH & CHENEY

Bush and his cronies don't care if national security is jeopardized or not. Unless they get retroactive immunity for criminal acts they committed they will not allow Congress' work on FISA to go forward. They have Miss McConnell in the Senate to do his usual obstructionist tactics should the Democrats there grow a spine-- totally unlikely, of course-- and in the House they have enough filthy, flea-ridden Blue Dogs to team up with the Republicans and overturn Democratic caucus insistence that there be no retroactive immunity for any Bush Regime cronies for any criminal behavior.

This evening I picked up Senator Lincoln Chafee's book again-- Against The Tide-- How A Compliant Congress Empowered A Reckless President-- and I was reminded how very little ever changes. "When Senator Jeffords quit the Republican Party and threw control of the Senate back to the Democrats," writes Chafee (a Republican himself, you will recall), "I thought he might have gained us a little time to do our jobs, to deliberate and slow down the president's rush to war."

But the Democrats were not about to exercise that kind of leadership, so it did not matter that they controlled the Senate. Far from wanting to slow things down, they were throwing elbows in the rush to climb aboard the war train.

Yes, they were-- and it helps explain why Hillary Clinton isn't going to be the candidate for the presidency, anymore than other Democratic hopefuls who voted with Bush and the Republicans to go to war on October 10, 2002-- from Joe Biden and Chris Dodd to John Edwards and even John Kerry.

And now the battle has shifted to the House-- which "the Democrats" now control-- and the issue isn't unprovoked aggressive war against Iraq, but the further shredding of the Constitution of the United States of America. There is no acceptable excuse for any member of Congress to vote for retroactive immunity. The public doesn't want it and the Constitution doesn't merit it. Yes, the big bad (despised) Republicans will attack you for it and call you a pansy. If you can't stand up and defend America and defend American values, go get a job on K Street.

Today we hear that corporate toady Steny Hoyer is brokering a deal that will give Bush what he wants. And, as if it weren't enough that the credit card companies were allowed to write the hated bankruptcy legislation that so many Democrats rolled over and played dead on, now we find out that the telecoms are being allowed to write their own immunity clauses.

Telecom companies have presented congressional Democrats with a set of proposals on how to provide immunity to the businesses that participated in a controversial government electronic surveillance program, a House Democratic aide said Wednesday.

Congress has been wrestling for months with an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with the immunity issue the primary sticking point.

Many [actual] Democrats want the companies held accountable for participating in the program, which was initiated in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The White House, however, has insisted that the participation of the telecoms is crucial to monitoring conversations between potential terrorists. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill that does not contain immunity.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) said Wednesday a FISA deal is "still in flux" but he described the latest developments as "promising" and said he hoped to have a solution soon.

House officials declined to discuss the specifics of the proposed immunity language by the telecoms.

Although it remains to be seen if congressional Democrats will accept the telecom companies' proposal, the communication between the two sides signifies that progress is being made.

Progress? Towards the destruction of constitutional law? A few month ago 21 of the treacherous, corrupt, bribe-taking Blue Dogs signed a letter to Speaker Pelosi demanding a chance to vote for retroactive immunity. The Democratic leadership was able to get that to back down, temporarily, with the promise that their day will come. Even with that promise half a dozen of the worst and most reactionary of the Bush Dog rubber stamps-- David Boren (OK), Chris Carney (PA), Jim Cooper (TN), Tim Holden (PA), Nick Lampson (TX) and Heath Shuler (NC)-- voted with the Republicans anyway. And now the bill that refuses to die is back. As Digby pointed out yesterday, when it comes to retroactive immunity Bush is a damn zombie.

"Bush wants this one very, very badly for some reason and he's going to push it right up until the day he leaves office," writes Digby. "It's a zombie. And it's not just about money. These are huge corporations that can easily afford to litigate these claims and since it is unlikely that any of the plaintiffs suffered huge damages they don't face outrageous financial liability. They don't even face much bad PR: if they lose, they just say they were trying to help the government fight terrorists and there won't be a whole lot of customers who will switch to other carriers when they find out they violated the fourth amendment. This is about the Bush administration and keeping civil liberties lawyers from having access to discovery documents."

Digby is smart-- one of the most astute political minds I have ever met. But there's more. Remember, retroactive immunity is also precedent-setting and it's not just for the telecom executives who have been sending millions and millions of dollars in legalized bribes to politicians (mostly Republicans but plenty of slimy Democrats too)-- between $400 million and half a billion since Bush first stole the White House in 2000. It's also for members of the Regime itself. This is just the beginning of  along battle Bush and Cheney will be fighting to offer retroactive immunity for all the crimes committed by these monstrosities for the 8 shameful years of crimes against humanity.

It's very hard to vote a Democrat out when you know a Republican-- always a worse Republican-- will take his or her place. But if ever there was a time to do it, that time is now, and this cause is right. David Boren, Chris Carney, Jim Cooper, Tim Holden, Nick Lampson and Heath Shuler should all be defeated in their re-election bids in November. They are willing to take legalized bribes from telecom lobbyists and sell out the constitution. Boren, Carney, Lampson and Shuler, particularly, come own on the side of the GOP on issue after issue. They have no primary opponents but if they are defeated now, a real Democrat can run against whatever hideous Republican goons take their places.

Among the other 15 Bush Dogs who signed the letter to Pelosi are Leonard Boswell (IA) and John Barrow (GA), each of whom does have a progressive Democratic primary opponent, Ed Fallon in Iowa and Regina Thomas in Georgia. Ed will be the Blue America guest at FDL Saturday afternoon. Regina will be our guest on May on May 24. Regina's Blue America page is already up and going and I urge you to give what you can to help her defeat Barrow.

The other signatories to the infamous letter are:

• Marion Berry (AR)
• Mike Ross (AR)
• Earl Pomeroy (ND)
• Bud Cramer (AL)
• Melissa Bean (IL)
• Allen Boyd (FL)
• Joe Baca (CA)
• John Tanner (TN)
• Jim Matheson (D-UT)
• Lincoln Davis (TN)
• Brad Ellsworth (IN)
• Charlie Melancon (LA)
• Dennis Moore (KS)
• Zack Space (OH)

And it will be interesting to see what newly elected conservative Democrats Bill Foster (IL) and Don Cazayoux (LA) do in their first showdown between Democrats and Blue Dogs (unless the Blue Dog attempt to sabotage the modernization of the GI Bill comes up first).