Clinton and Obama Need to Back Chris Dodd updated
Greg Sargent has the story up now.
In a move that will up the pressure on Hillary and Barack Obama to stand
firm against the Senate telecom immunity FISA bill, MoveOn and a dozen top
progressive blogs will launch an all-out campaign tomorrow to pressure the
two Senators into publicly declaring their support for Chris Dodd’s threat
to place a hold on and filibuster the bill, Election Central has learned.MoveOn spokesman Adam Green tells me that the group will send out an email
to “thousands” of its members tomorrow morning, and thousands more
throughout the day, asking them to call the offices of Hillary and Obama and
demand that they publicly affirm their support for Dodd.“We’ll be asking Obama and Clinton to publicly get Chris Dodd’s
back and say in a statement that they will explicitly support his hold and
filibuster,” Green tells me. “Pretty much this is the exact same
ask made to Joe Biden in a Washington Post chat. The question was, Will you
join Chris Dodd? He said Yes.” … ..In another move that points to the significant degree of coordination among
the top liberal blogs on the FISA issue, Green says that the following bloggers
will also be directing their readers to call Hillary and Obama’s offices and
press them on this:DailyKos, Atrios, OpenLeft, Firedoglake, MyDD, Glenn Greenwald,
Crooksandliars, AmericaBlog, Digby, Taylor MarshMoveOn
And Top Bloggers To Launch Campaign Pressuring Hillary And Obama To Back Dodd
On FISA
This is important to us all. Telecoms do not deserve amnesty on FISA.
UPDATE II: Below is Clinton’s statement, which came during a press availability.
Q: Can you discuss your position on the reauthorization of the FISA bill?
HRC: I am troubled by the concerns that have been raised by the recent legislation reported out of the Intelligence Committee. I haven’t seen it so I can’t express an opinion about it. But I don’t trust the Bush Administration with our civil rights and liberties. So I’m going to study it very hard. As matters stand now, I could not support it and I would support a filibuster absent additional information coming forward that would convince me differently.
UPDATE: I’ll have a post up late tonight outlining the action. Below is Obama’s first statement, as well as his latest statement responding to our action:
FIRST STATEMENT: “I have consistently opposed this Administration’s efforts to use debates about our national security to expand its own power, whether that was on the Iraq war, or on its power grab to curb our civil liberties through domestic surveillance programs. It is time to restore oversight and accountability in the FISA program, and this proposal — with an unprecedented grant of retroactive immunity — is not the place to start.”
LATEST STATEMENT: “Senator Obama has serious concerns about many provisions in this bill, especially the provision on giving retroactive immunity to the telephone companies. He is hopeful that this bill can be improved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But if the bill comes to the Senate floor in its current form, he would support a filibuster of it.”
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