My Hero of the Week

A big round of applause for Democratic presidential hopeful Chris Dodd, who left the campaign trail yesterday to lead the charge against the proposed FISA legislation. Dodd has pledged to continue to filibuster the bill until provisions offering retroactive blanket immunity to telecom companies for warrentless wiretapping are removed. It's nice to see someone actually doing their job on Capitol Hill for a change...

Here's Dodd's interview about the filibuster from MSNBC's Countdown:



So, where were frontrunners Hillary and Barack? Campaigning in Iowa, naturally. Sorry, guys, but press releases supporting the filibuster just don't cut it. We needed your votes and your help on the Senate floor, not just your good wishes. Sure, campaign season is hectic, but why should we choose to elect you as president when you can't even fulfill your senatorial obligations? To his credit, Joe Biden did take out time to cast his vote - unfortunately, to his detriment, he only voted "present". Not much help there.

And why was it even necessary for Dodd to stage a filibuster when his own party is (theoretically) in power in both chambers of Congress? Ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who not only allowed this flawed, unconstitutional legislation to even come to a vote, but actually encouraged other Senate Democrats to vote for it. Baffling.

So, in attempting to thwart passage of a thoroughly un-American bill, Chris Dodd stood up to not only the Senate Republicans and the administration, but also to his own party leadership. Gee, a politician with principles, integrity and guts... Almost forgot those existed.

(Video courtesy of Crooks and Liars.)