Babies are so cute, with their wrinkly faces, oversized bald pates and whiny but often seductive (for some) ways. Joe Lieberman was officially reborn as a Republican today when he endorsed John McCain, who is conducting the most protracted fade in GOP primary history, for president. The political press have rekindled their love affair with the corkscrewed straight talker after a momentary lapse earlier this year, and they maintain a Brokeback Mountain-like addiction to Lieberman, so we can all look forward to another month of McCain Rebound stories, followed by nine months of vicious griping after he loses. “Perhaps only John McCain could have brought Americans together in this most divisive of election years…”

Meanwhile, Connecticut Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd has successfully resisted the Harry Reid-led push to pass an abominable update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Reid, ignoring Dodd’s hold on the bill that would have provided retroactive immunity to telecom companies that broke the law in cooperating with the Bush administration’s illegal electronic surveillance programs, created a situation in which only the threat of a genuine filibuster on Dodd’s part—taking to the Senate floor and holding it until his voice gave out or Reid folded—could forestall passage. Fortunately for you, me and the Constitution, Reid backed down, at least for a few weeks.

Dodd thus becomes the only sitting member of Congress among the Democratic presidential candidates to actually accomplish something in the runup to the primaries, a record that is likely to stand given that the holiday recess is at hand. The thrill of victory may be somewhat adulterated by the fact that it arrives as much at Reid’s expense as the administration’s—ideally, Democrats would not have to plow through their own leaders to accomplish this sort of thing—but it will probably give Dodd a nice boost going into next month, and perhaps it will provide the other candidates with some motivation to do good works likewise once Congress reconvenes next year. Clinton and Obama were absent from the debate, choosing instead to offer long-distance (and therefore meaningless) support as they continued to campaign in Iowa, and their no-show did not go unremarked. (Joe Biden, unable to find on short notice a Neil Kinnock speech appropriate to the occasion, didn’t show up either, but his absence did go unremarked, as would have his presence.)

Continue reading McCain midwifes Lieberman rebirth, plus: Dodd stomps Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may be backing off plans to bring a bill to the Senate floor providing immunity for law-breaking telecommunications companies that cooperated in the Bush administration’s illegal electronic surveillance program(s).

Two versions of a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have passed Senate committees. One, the version coming out of the intelligence committee, would insulate the telecom companies from lawsuits arising from their violations of the law; the other, a judiciary committee product, would not. Reid, despite an attempt by fellow Democrat Chris Dodd to block the intelligence committee bill, apparently planned to bring that version up for debate on Monday. Dodd and Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold will offer an amendment striking the immunity provision from the bill if the intelligence committee version is indeed the one Reid advances.

Reid, though, may be reconsidering his support for that bill in the face of pressure that is keeping his phones busy and his staff hopping. Three calls to his office this morning produced three different but equally equivocal responses. One aide told me that Reid has not decided which version to push. Another told me that Reid wants a bill that would protect us from terrorists and protect our civil liberties, and when I interrupted to ask again which version he planned to bring up for debate, said that she really didn’t know; “I have these talking points …”. A third aide, in the Senator’s press office, also couldn’t answer but said he would get back to me via email (I’ll update this when/if that happens). Dodd and Feingold staffers say the possibility that Reid hasn’t yet decided to push the telecom immunity version of the bill is news to them, so the lack of clarity in Reid’s office, whether genuine or disingenuous, is likely the result of the negative reactions coming in over the phones.

Continue reading Reid taking heat on immunizing telecoms through FISA

Among the questions raised by coverage of the revelation that Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats knew for years that the Bush administration had ratified torture as official U.S. policy is why so many of those who decried the possibility continue to support, or at least to countenance, Pelosi’s continued tenure as Speaker of the House. Among the questions begged by it is whether or not she and her colleagues are sitting on other, as yet unleaked administration illegalities. Given the administration’s stated intent to “push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop”, the likely answer is “of course”; just what those activities might be, we won’t know until someone outside Congress leaks the details.

On the first point, regardless the motivations of whoever leaked the news about Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller and Jane Harman having been briefed on the torture agenda, the fact remains that they were briefed and remained silent. Torture is not only illegal under domestic law; it’s a crime against humanity and by declining to impede it, Pelosi et al became minor war criminals. Yet among widely-read progressive, liberal or Democratic commentators, none are calling on any of the trio to resign. At Daily Kos, one of the headliners actually mounts a somewhat spirited defense of Pelosi. Glenn Greenwald has harsh words for Rockefeller and Digby makes a typically lyrical case against the trio, but neither call for serious repercussions. Search Google News for anything stronger, such as a demand for resignations, and you find … not much other than me.

Continue reading So, Madame Speaker: Anything else you haven’t told us?