I watched Late Edition on CNN today and Wolf Blitzer posed the question to Senator Chris Dodd if his same-state Senator Joe Lieberman were to address the RNC convention, would he then call for him to be stripped of his chairmanships in the Senate. Dodd replied by calling Liberman a friend and said he would not push for the stripping the positions of one of McCain's top surrogates.

Apologies for the short diary, I will try to locate the transcript from today's show later. I am wondering what are the thoughts around the community on this.

(Proudly cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)

I know, I know. It's been a tough week for all of us who care deeply about our Constitution, the foundation of our republic. And yes, I know what's made this week tougher was Barack Obama's agreeing to this capitulation to Bush-Cheney. So what do we do now? Where can we go? How can we put this disappointment behind us?

Follow me after the flip as I discuss where we can go from here...

Considering Barack's cave on FISA came just 2 days ago, yesterday's revelation that he is currently vetting Chris Dodd, anti-retroactive immunity crusader, for VP seems convenient.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate.

The former White House hopeful and Connecticut lawmaker indicated Wednesday that he has been approached by the campaign. "There's been some inquiries, yeah," Dodd said. "They ask for a lot of stuff. I'll leave it there."

While Chris Dodd is certainly a hero to the left for his principled fight against FISA and retroactive immunity, the goodwill Barack Obama might engender by choosing Chris Dodd -- or ooking as though he might -- for VP is actually microscopic compared to the reaction he'd have gotten had he instead voted against the bad bill, or better yet, fought fiercely against it himself. Sorry, Senator, it's going to take a lot more than surrounding yourself with real leaders to convince us you are one.

Update [2008-7-11 12:28:19 by Todd Beeton]:While it would appear, according to this story, that Chris Dodd has made Obama's shortlist, if Howard Wolfson is to be believed, Hillary Clinton has not.

Via Ben Smith:

On Fox, former Clinton chief strategist Howard Wolfson indicated that Hillary Clinton is not being formally considered as Obama's running mate, in that she has not been asked to undergo the formal vetting process.

"Not as far as I know," Wolfson, who remains close to Clinton, said in response to a question from Sean Hannity.

He continued to say that the lack of formal vetting wouldn't necessarily rule out the possibility that Obama would choose her.

"There is more information available about Hillary in the public record than just about any other public figure in America," he says, citing in particular the tax returns that Obama's campaign demanded she release.

"That may be sufficient for him to make whatever decision he wants to make," said Wolfson, a newly minted Fox contributor.

This doesn't strike me as quite as decisive a statement of fact as it does to some but let's say it is true. That means no Clinton, no Webb, no Edwards...no offense, Senator Dodd, but the prospects outside those three are, to me, less than inspiring.

Via e-mail, Chris Dodd is asking for our help in stopping retroactive telecom immunity.

This is it.

Today the Senate will be debating FISA and retroactive immunity.

By tomorrow, it's likely that voting will be done.

And what we do together over the next 24 hours will determine what the legislation looks like.

I've offered an amendment to strip retroactive immunity from the FISA legislation.

On Monday you joined thousands of Americans online by calling your Senators (with the help of our friends at FireDogLake) and asking them  to vote "NO" on any bill containing retroactive immunity.

There's still time for more calls to be made.

http://tools.advomatic.com/7/fisa

I promise you that your voices are being heard in the halls of the Senate.

I promise you that I will continue to fight alongside you until the last vote is counted.

Help me now to ensure that my next email to you will be a celebration of our commitment to the rule of law.

Thank you, Senator Dodd for standing with us once again.

Make the calls, everyone. Until the vote, every call and every bit of pressure counts. Remember, the only reason this isn't law already is because of us. Let's try to keep it that way.

Update [2008-7-8 11:25:41 by Todd Beeton]:Senator Feingold will be speaking on the floor of the senate in a few minutes about his, Senator Dodd's and Senator Leahy's amendment to strip telecom immunity. Get on the horn, people.

Update [2008-7-8 11:31:59 by Josh Orton]: You can use Blue America's call tools (the ones Dodd links to) to contact your Senators right here.

Sen. Dodd has a post up at HuffPo on FISA:

Most agree that this law needs to be modernized, as it has been many times over the years. But this time, the president is asking Congress to do something much more: to shield the telecoms from any judicial review of their actions. He wants Congress to declare spying without a warrant both constitutional and necessary to defend this country.

It is neither.

That is why I have done everything I can to stop retroactive immunity from being included in the FISA bill. As written, this bill does not say, "Trust the American people." It does not say, "Trust the courts and judges and juries to come to just decisions" about what happened at the telecoms. Rather, retroactive immunity sends this message:

"Trust me" -- a message that comes straight from the mouth of President Bush. I would never take "trust me" for an answer, not even in the best of times. Not even from a president on Mount Rushmore.

The work to stop this terrible bill is overwhelming, and I know we could lose.

But process-wise, there's been great progress. The issues with FISA are dense (history of why Congress first passed the act/the concept of civil vs. criminal telecom immunity/exclusivity precedent/etc.). Five years ago, would 20,000 activists organize on a politician's website in protest? Would any conversations between activists, online or off, even broach the subject?

There's still time to tell our elected officials not to cave. Blue America has tools, and Christy Hardin Smith writes up the details.

It used to be harder for the average citizen to engage in politics - reading news on specific issues and checking the positions of their representatives pre-internet was time consuming. Advocacy campaigns too-often relied on more heated, visceral issues to engage people.

Even just a few years ago, activism around an issue as weedy as FISA wouldn't stand a chance. And we're certainly not quite where we need to be yet. But it's a thrill watching so many people discuss and organize around a fundamental constitutional issue.

I just read Reaper0bot's diary on the reason Barack Obama is likely supporting the current compromise FISA bill, and there was one comment that jumped out at me: someone said "okay, we'll lose the battle but win the war".  Why?

Cross-posted from The Wayward Episcopalian.

Honor and ethics are very important to me. As I wrote on my personal blog earlier this week, the Gospel shows us that few things are more immoral than the abuse of power. When corruption scandals beset DC, I am usually very swift to condemn the accused, even if they are members of my own party - case in point, while in New Orleans, I volunteered for Karen Carter's 2006 midterm campaign to unseat Rep. William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson (D-Refrigerator).

Sometimes, however, ethics scandals are just a bunch of trumped-up hooey designed to generate headlines no matter what the personal cost, and that's exactly what we see unfolding today. The protestors, bloggers, and GOP aides trying to smear Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad right now should be ashamed. Dodd and Conrad are two of the most honorable people in Washington, DC, and I do not for an instant believe either one knowingly or purposefully did anything wrong. This is especially true of Conrad, who has been a model of honesty in the way he has handled this scandal.

"Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide's "V.I.P." program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans. . . . The loans translate into money saved. For example, in Dodd's case, Portfolio calculates that "the lower rates save the senator about $58,000 on his Washington residence over the life of the loan, and $17,000 on the Connecticut home."
In the case of Conrad, he saved about $10,700 on a loan he took out for his $1.07 million home in Bethany Beach, Del. He also took out a loan on an investment property when he refinanced an eight-unit building he owns with his brothers . . . "

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.co m/2008/06/loans.php