Speaking of cynicism, it is worth remembering that John McCain is not the only member of Congress to repeatedly stab the American people in the back (how do you Republicans like that accusation thrown back in your faces?). Numerous Democrats, including the despicable Majority Leader Harry Reid, have been in on the game:
TURLEY: Well it‘s not just Republicans. In case you noticed, there‘s more than 31 Democrats in the Senate. But only 31 people voted against the immunity provision. The fix has been in for some time on the unlawful surveillance program and the torture program.
Many Democrats and Republicans were aware of the program and they are actively helping the White House to try to shut down any confrontation on the issue. And this is also helped by the fact that the telecoms are one of the five most powerful lobbying forces in Washington. And many of these members have close ties to those lobbyists.
Turley also singles out Clinton for her cowardly refusal to participate in the vote:
TURLEY: Well it‘s going to be harder to get this cat to walk backwards once you grant immunity. The question about the next president is a good one. But you‘ll note that in the vote on immunity, Hillary Clinton didn‘t even show up to vote. She was in the area campaigning. Her opponents, McCain and Obama showed up.
But it really, I think, is symbolic of this disconnect between—here you‘ve got someone who is campaigning for the president of the United States, making pitches of civil libertarians, but even doesn‘t show up when she‘s in the neighborhood to vote against telecom immunity. And I‘m not just dumping on her. The fact is that there‘s been a lot of—really duplicitous work being done, by both parties, to shield what has been a very fixed deal from the beginning on telecoms.
The rest is just a rehash of what you already know. Reid needs to go, and that should be the first order of business after the elections.
borehole
Since our democracy’s being warped beyond repair by “superdelegates,” can we make Chris Dodd a “supersenator” or something?
Reid makes me fucking sick. Nice to see Jon Stewart kick his ass last night.
Evinfuilt
Next year, Dodd will be Senate Majority Leader. Leiberman will no longer hold any power, and cats/dogs will live together in perfect harmony.
Well, at least I hope so. Dodd has definetly earned the support of this nation. He did more than Reid ever could
D-Chance.
Veep.
gypsy howell
This is part of why I can’t puke up more than lukewarm support for Obama (hey! at least he voted! but beyond that… pffft) and I’ll have to hold my nose to vote for Hillary in November, but only because McCain will DEFINITELY be worse.
I don’t have too many illusions that either one of them has any intention of walking this mess back. I can only hope (oh there’s that word again) that we don’t go further into the abyss.
Everyone keeps talking about what TWO GREAT candidates we have. I don’t really see it, myself. And shit like this is why.
Elvis Elvisberg
Reid needs to go
Agreed. He must raise incredible amounts of money, or be a really swell guy to have a sandwich with, or something, because there’s no apparent reason from a legislative perspective why this guy should be running anything.
Also, John, dunno if it’s intentional, but there’s no link link to the thing you’re quoting in this post.
Svensker
Not usually one to defend Hillary, but I’m pretty sure she was in Texas during the voting. It would have been nice if she made a big deal about coming back to vote on the issue, i.e., led on it, but flying all the way to vote on something that was definitely going to go down… Obama gets a half a star, since he was in town anyway.
borehole
Correction: I was drifting off when TDS was on, and I really wanted to see Stewart kick Reid’s ass again, so I went to the Comedy Central site–turns out it was actually Specter’s ass being kicked.
Y’know that gauzy place between wakefulness and sleep? I’m got fucking Reid hanging out in mine. I’ve gotta tamp down the political awareness a little.
D-Chance: Really? If it’s a split Senate, maybe, otherwise we’d just be putting one of our only real fighters in a position of total impotence. Unless you’re thinking of going with the Cheney precedent of veep-as-puppetmaster, in which case I am so totally down wit dat.
Tsulagi
If this also passes the House with the telecom immunity and gets to The Tard in current form, another reason for me not to register as a Democrat. And while it certainly wasn’t my biggest issue, it’s the last straw that will keep my checkbook closed to politics for the remainder of the year. An email address I had linked to past contributions that now collects hundreds of solicitations, newsletters, invitations, and other crap will be going on sternly worded auto-reply.
I’ve had it with these people. The only difference between the previous Republican Bush rubber-stamping Congress and the current one is the Democrats have limper wrists when applying the stamp. But I do appreciate irony. These assholes got me to contribute and vote for Bush and his party by going through the Democratic back door. Fool me once….
Vote Democratic! Because when you think capitulation, shouldn’t it really be painless and spine free? They see the big picture.
binzinerator
No Obama gets a full star. He voted against telecom immunity.
That’s what matters.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Nope, she was in town at the moment the voting came down.
I don’t count her out at all. I’ve seen how tough the Clinton’s can be (although I suspect a lot of it their National success is Carville & Begala’s work). But I will say she’s starting to look damned desperate.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
3/4ths? He wasn’t there for the final vote, because by that point, it was definitely useless.
As I told one person, better he get back to getting elected, than to stay for what was, by that point, a foregone conclusion.
LiberalTarian
And by skipping the vote, HRC lost my support for her being majority leader.
Times they are a changin’. They’re getting fucking worse.
mike in dc
Hey, my Torts professor’s on Countdown again. Yay.
Don
Woodrow – Turley can state she was in town but all indications are to the contrary. She’d been expected to lose all two and a half states and as of Monday evening she didn’t have any local appearances scheduled. BILL Clinton was in town campaigning on her behalf but I saw no announcements of HRC appearances leading up to or on the day of.
That said, that’s no fucking excuse in my book. It’s her damned job to be there for votes and if she can’t handle that then she should step down so she can devote herself to campaigning.
The Grand Panjandrum
Dodd or Feingold would be fine with me! Reid might be the worst Dem Majority Leader in my lifetime.
jcricket
We need a good parliamentarian. Dodd might be. Feingold is a good Senator, but I don’t know anything about his tactical abilities.
We’re gonna be dealing with a 53-55 seat Senate majority, so we’re gonna need an arm-twister and filibuster-breaker. Someone who delights in making Republicans squirm and wishy-washy Dems commit.
Hypatia
Won’t be Feingold. Dodd would be great, though. As for the worst (Democratic division) in my lifetime, Reid will have to duke it out for the title with Tom Daschle.
Birdzilla
The demacrook party and the imerial CONgress
conumbdrum
Reid should be stripped of his Majority Leader status, voted the hell out of office, run out of Washington on a rail then bitch-slapped until he cries.
Some people think it takes balls to cut them off… and way too many of those people are currently wasting space as Congressional Democrats. Harry Reid went the extra mile and had his spine surgically removed as well. Fucking tool.
Conservatively Liberal
Fixed better.
Reid has a spine like a Slinky and folds like he works at a dry cleaner. He is the weakest link. I would prefer Dodd in the position as I think he would be far better suited for the job than ol’ Dirty Dealing Harry.
I agree, an Obama/Dodd ticket would be great!
goatchowder
No, Lieberman needs to go, along with enough Republican Senators to provide at least a real majority and maybe a supermajority in the Senate, and that should be the first order of business BEFORE the election.
Reid is hamstrung. He doesn’t even have 50 votes! Remember, Lieberman is running the Senate right now, not Reid. This is because all Lieberman needs to do is put an “R” in front of his name and Reid loses his job. He has Reid by the balls.
His seat isn’t up for a while, though, so we need to replace a bunch of R Senators, enough so that Reid actually gains power. If he fucks that up, then yeah, dump him. But we haven’t yet seen what his “leadership” would actually entail, because he hasn’t been given it yet by the voters.