CT Blue

Dear Joe:

A few months ago you and most of the other freshmen Democrats took a courageous stand. You were among the most courageous, because it was not so clear then that the Democrat with the narrowest 2006 margin of victory would have such an easy time winning re-election. You voted to preserve the Constitution by opposing telecom immunity. You also, as a by-product of that opposition, voted not to give Bush yet another blank check to violate the constitutional rights of Americans.

You and the other freshmen paid a price for that. The Republicans ran ads against you, trotting out the same old tired scare tactics that worked before. Only this time, it didn’t work. But whether it worked or not, the fact is that you, along with your fellow freshmen, took a risk for the Constitution.

Now, Steny Hoyer, your majority “leader”, who says he opposes telecom immunity, is set to cut a deal with the White House to give Bush everything he wants. As the folks at firedoglake, the experts on this issue, say:

Steny Hoyer has brokered a deal and entered into an agreement with the White House and the GOP that effectively gives the telecoms everything they want, with a nice bit of kabuki for a screen.

The sacrifice you made, and the risk you took, will be for naught if this is the end result. This is reminiscent of McCain’s anti-torture legislation, which ended up authorizing torture. In November, the voters will have suffered through six months of sky high gas prices. Many of them will be facing foreclosure. Many will be facing eviction, stuck with the choice that is no choice between paying for the gas to go to their low paying jobs, or paying the rent. Many more will have lost their jobs, and many times that number will be feeling financially insecure. They will not be worrying about the telecoms. They no longer believe the Bush who cried wolf about national security. There is no political need to capitualate on this issue.

The people who will remember this sell out, if it happens, will be the people who oppose this legislation-your supporters. You and the other freshmen should make it clear to Steny that you don’t want the risk you ran to be rendered meaningless. Stand up for the constitution yet again.

If FISA really needs to be amended, and of course it really doesn’t, then amend it without immunity. If Bush vetoes it, then shame on the Democrats if they can’t turn that against both McCain and Bush. Why, after all, should Bush endanger the nation in order to save the telecoms?

The Democrats have, so far, accomplished only one thing of value with their new majority. They have refused, so far, to sanction the telecom’s criminal behavior. Let’s preserve that accomplishment. The constitution, battered and bruised as it is, will thank you.