Selling Us Out - For Cash
by Steve Soto
Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and 18 other Senate Democrats just passed a FISA bill that granted the large telecommuncations companies retroactive immunity for their past crimes in assisting the Bush Administration's violation of the constitutional rights of American citizens. After leading a valiant effort against their own caucus, Senator Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold watched 19 of their fellow Democrats vote with Joe Lieberman and the entire GOP caucus to give the telecoms a "get out of jail free" card today by a vote of 68-29.
The 19 Senate Democrats who voted with the telecoms and their campaign money and against the constitutional rights of everyday Americans were:
Kent Conrad
Jay Rockefeller
Max Baucus
Jim Webb
Herb Kohl
Sheldon Whitehouse
Evan Bayh (a possible Hillary VP pick)
Tim Johnson
Bill Nelson
Barbara Mikulski
Claire McCaskill
Blanche Lincoln
Bob Casey
Ken Salazar
Daniel Inouye
Ben Nelson
Mark Pryor
Tom Carper
Mary Landrieu
You will note that several of those who whored themselves to the telecommunications industry at the expense of their own constituents are committee chairs, and several others (Jim Webb, Claire McCaskill, and Sheldon Whitehouse) took a large amount of netroots help last year in getting elected in the Senate Democrat Class of 2006. Now a little more than a year later, this entire crew of pathetic corporate whores sold the country and the constitution down the river because they bought Jay Rockefeller's transparently gutless reasoning that it should be the Bush Administration that is held accountable for its intelligence and national security illegalities, and not the telecoms themselves. Of course this kind of thinking allows Rockefeller and the rest of these Senate Democrats to keep backing up to the pay window of Corporate America and taking their cash while they bemoan the activities of an administration that neither Rockefeller nor others in this pathetic crew have the guts to push up against the wall.
At least the Senate bill must now be reconciled with the House version, which thankfully does not include the retroactive immunity. But there's no doubt that Steny Hoyer will help the Blue Dog Democrats in selling out American citizens in a similar fashion, unless Nancy Pelosi can stand up to them, assuming she was so inclined.
If Jay Rockefeller was really committed to holding the Bush Administration accountable for its impeachable behavior here and for all of the other damage this administration has done to our national security, then why hasn't he opened an investigation of Sibel Edmonds' jaw-dropping allegations of late that former State Department Number 3 Marc Grossman sold out this country's national security as far back as 2001 by outing Valerie Plame's Brewster Jennings front company to the Turks and participated in the sale of nuclear secrets? The truth is that Rockefeller could care less about holding this administration accountable for treason, and is an all-too-willing accomplice in the Bush Administration's impeachable offenses.
You can tell Rockefeller what you think of his enabling behavior here, if you can manuever around the truckloads of cash he is taking this afternoon from the telecoms.
No wonder Barack Obama's message of changing the Beltway is resonating so well. But let no one think for a moment that such change only applies to Republicans.
Hat tip to Matt Browner Hamlin and Brad Friedman