FireDogLake
But the Post article also does not delve into the fact that Chris Dodd’s filibuster threatened to shine a bright light on how craven the other Democratic presidential hopefuls looked when they chose to stay in Iowa and promote themselves rather than come back to Washington DC and defend the constitution. No doubt the telecoms, the Bush administration and their Democratic allies will have plenty of time to regroup and the fight will resume in January at a much more fevered pitch, but the delay may also pull the Senate presidential hopefuls back into the debate — who have thus far given lukewarm pledges of support to Dodd.
And Glenn Greenwald brings up another aspect of the battle that the Post seems blissfully unaware of, and that is about how the whole notion of one man taking a stand on this issue came to pass. I first asked Dodd in early October on Air America if he would commit to filibuster retroactive telecom immunity, and he said at the time “Well, may have to do that….Hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The Washington Post Corporation owns cable properties in Appalachia. (Who knows, perhaps they are Christy’s ISP.) Comcast gets $1,000 per wiretap. No reason to suppose the Washington Post Corporation charges less. The same goes for TimeWarner, which owns AOL. Busheviki abuse of power has been very profitable for internet service providers.
On the other hand, accountability would be expensive, ruinously so. If everyone who had their rights violated could sue these companies, the damages might sink entire corporations. Maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe plotting against the constitution should be a capital offense. In any case, the legal discovery process would bring all the skeletons out of the closet. People would understand that it is not just telecom companies, but also news conglomerates that have been plotting against them.
That is why Dodd is going to get negative press for the rest of his life and why lefty blogosphere must defend him.
