Dodd For Majority Leader!!

That would be a good thing!

Momentum Builds for a Chris Dodd Run at Majority Leader

By Sam Stein, HuffingtonPost.com
Posted on December 19, 2007, Printed on December 20, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.huffingtonpost.com//71123/

As the political season reaches its Iowa caucus climax, momentum is building for Sen. Chris Dodd to parlay his presidential campaign into a bid to challenge Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, for Majority Leader.

Almost all of the support for this effort now comes from the netroots, much of which favors such a move. But talk of Dodd making a run at the post has slowly crept into the corners of Capitol Hill as well. And in light of the Connecticut Democrat's successful filibuster threat this week over granting immunity to telecommunications firms that conducted warrantless surveillance, some in the progressive community see the framework for a potential shakeup.

"Dodd is an effective legislator, he is practiced and experienced and is articulate," said Joan Claybrook, president of the nonprofit group, Public Citizen. "He also knows how to make the process work. I think Harry Reid has an entirely different style and likes to work things out behind the scenes. He's had to be a negotiator and people don't like that sometimes. They want to see someone take a stand and win, but that is hard in this Congress and with these issues."

Claybrook, it should be noted, made no endorsement. And Dodd's campaign and close advisers insist that he is not focused on anything other than the presidential race.

"Senator Dodd and his campaign supporters, staff and family are 100 percent focused on the Iowa caucus and winning this nomination," Dodd's spokesperson Colleen Flanagan told the Huffington Post.

And yet, after Dodd forced reconsideration of the surveillance legislation - by arguing for eight hours and threatening to go longer - he left many prominent bloggers yearning for more.

"I like Harry Reid enough, but it's clear that we live in a climate in which the type of leadership we need is better provided by Chris Dodd," Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos told the Huffington Post. "Republicans have been laughing at us all term, refusing to compromise because they know the inevitable capitulation on any given issue is always just a couple of days away. Those Republicans need to be re-taught how to negotiate, and step one is to have a Democratic caucus that will tighten the screws when necessary. Yesterday, that person wasn't our leader, it was Chris Dodd."

Similar sentiment has been exhibited at other prominent progressive blogs like FireDogLake.

Still, a major obstacle for a Majority Leader Dodd remains: Senate Democrats are, by and large, happy with the work of Reid. Many note the difficulties in working with a one-vote majority and say he has done the best with the hand he was dealt. In the wake of an April 2007 Washington Post column that was highly critical of Reid's leadership on Iraq, every single member of the Senate Democratic Caucus signed a letter to the paper, challenging its assertions.

"If it were to happen, the pressure would have to come from the outside," said an aide to a prominent senator, not from Dodd's office. "I haven't heard of anyone being upset with Reid. There has been, in fact, an awful lot of support."

Claybrook said of Dodd, "On some issues he's fantastic and on other issues not as much. I'm fond of him and have known him for many years but I also have great respect for Harry Reid."

The process of choosing a new Majority Leader in the Senate is not a difficult parliamentary procedure. Every two years, when a new Congress is sworn in, leadership holds an election. The sitting leader has the traditional advantages of incumbency -- he or she can dole out committee assignments and set the voting agenda to appease fellow members. As such, intra-party leadership struggles do not frequently take place. In 1970, Sen. Ted Kennedy, coming off only one term as Majority Whip, lost his reelection to Sen. Robert Byrd.

Dodd has run for a top-ranking post before. In 1994, as a 14-year Senate veteran, he took on then-Sen. Tom Daschle, D-SD, for Minority Leader and lost. This, observers say, will likely weigh in his mind should he choose to mount another challenge.

"Dodd has tried for leadership positions before and he has lost races," Jennifer Duffy, Senior Editor at the Cook Political Report, told the Huffington Post. "He is not going to just jump into this. I don't think he will announce anything like that without counting noses first. And when he does, he might find that the votes aren't there."

Of course, if Dodd were to try once more for the Democrat's top Senate job it would mean that his aspirations for the White House had met an unsuccessful end. Currently, his poll position in Iowa and New Hampshire leaves substantial room for improvement. But his name has been floated around as possible cabinet member. And his campaign insists that, even in the wake of the FISA victory, they have only the oval office on their minds.

"This [FISA victory] speaks to the kind of leadership he would have as president," said Flanagan.

Sam Stein is a Political Reporter at the Huffington Post, based in Washington, D.C.

© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

Chris Dodd Mounts Fight For Americans' Rights

Way To Go, Senator! You're our hero of the week!

Dodd ready to mount filibuster to block telecom immunity

12/17/2007 @ 8:48 am

Filed by Nick Juliano

Live video of the Senate debate on the FISA update and telecom immunity can be seen on C-Span 2 here.

Sen. Chris Dodd has taken to the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to block a proposal to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated the warrantless surveillance of Americans.

"I rarely come to the floor with this much anger," Dodd said. "I've never seen contempt of the rule of law such as this."

The Senate is considering an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that includes a provision aimed at invalidating some 40 lawsuits that have been filed against telephone and internet companies. Plaintiffs in those suits say the telecommunications industry acted illegally and ignored the constitution in facilitating warrantless government wiretaps aimed at Americans.

Shortly after noon Monday, the Senate voted 76-10 to proceed to regular debate on a proposed FISA update from the Intelligence Committee that includes telecom immunity; a Judiciary measure without immunity is pending as a substitute amendment. Dodd is expected to mount his filibuster once debate on the measure begins this afternoon.

Monday's consideration of telecom immunity came a day after new reports that the reach of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance efforts extended far beyond fighting terrorism and some were proposed or instituted before 9/11.

"The administration has claimed that is seeking merely foreign intelligence and that the intelligence is for national security purposes only. We see now that those claims are a part of a larger and more chilling picture," said the ACLU's Caroline Frederickson in a news release, referring to reports that first appeared in the New York Times detailing the NSA's efforts to tap into domestic communication networks and warrantlessly target calls to Latin America in search of drug dealers.

I doubt that the spying program was intended to nab big Latin American drug dealers. That's just the back-up story, in case the fact that the spying program was being set up two weeks after Bush and Cheney took office. Does anyone else remember the "war on drugs" being a Bush administration priority during the Bush campaign or on inauguration day? I remember drugs becoming an Ashcroft priority after 9/11, when he tried, over and over, to connect Al Qaida to drugs and drug users. His attempts failed only because it was pointed out that the money we pay at the gas pump supported terrorism far more than illicit drugs ever could and that the Taliban did not allow Afghan poppy fields to flourish, as they have since NATO took over.

"Those who have filed the over 40 legitimate cases against the telecom companies deserve their day in court - especially now that what we thought we knew about the companies' involvement in domestic spying was, perhaps, just the tip of the iceberg," Fredrickson continued. "It becomes clearer and clearer just how in the dark Americans are when it comes to the surveillance they are subject to under this administration. It seems that the more we learn, the less we know.”

Debate over the FISA update began at 10 a.m. Monday, and Dodd began speaking around 11 a.m.

"Believe me when I say if I did not speak today, my conscience would not rest," Dodd told his colleagues. He praised the Senate as a chamber in which even a "minority of one" can mount a protest against unacceptable legislation, to counteract the president's bully pulpit, as he sought to turn his minority into a "majority" of senators against telecom immunity.

Accusing telecommunications companies of "betraying millions of customers trust" by handing over phone records to the government for construction of a massive database, Dodd said, blocking lawsuits against the companies would eliminate the last bastion of oversight of the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

"Was it legal?" Dodd asked. "That I don't know, but if we pass this bill we will never know."

The Connecticut senator accused President Bush of usurping the rule of law by asking the country to simply trust that he wasn't trampling on citizens' constitutional rights.

"We say to the president of the United States that a nation of free men and women would never take 'trust me' for an answer, not even from a perfect president," Dodd said. "At these times, I would be a fool to take that offer."

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV), whose committee passed a measure that would grant immunity to telecoms, insisted early in Monday's debate, which is being televised on C-Span 2, that such immunity was narrowly targeted to telephone and internet companies that facilitated the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program between Sept. 11, 2001, and January of this year, when the FISA court ruled on the program.

So, does that mean that those telecoms participating in the domestic spying program before 9/11/01 would be exempt from the immunity in the senate bill?

Dodd, a dark-horse candidate for the Democratic presidential nod, tried to put a "hold" on any FISA update with telecom immunity, but that request apparently has been ignored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The 64-year-old Connecticut Senator plans to filibuster the bill -- the old fashioned way -- when it comes to the floor Monday. There is no word on how long Dodd's filibuster will last.

"It looks like the Senate Democratic leadership are not going to be the ones standing firm," a source familiar with the filibuster plan told RAW STORY.

Maybe, then, they don't need to be "the leadership" anymore!

In the modern Congress, the filibuster has become a de facto tool to require 60 votes in the Senate to pass virtually any piece of important or controversial legislation. Dodd's effort Monday would be the first time one Senator actually sought to block a bill by taking to the floor and refusing to yield since former Sen. Al D'Amato held the floor for 15 hours to protest job losses from his home state of New York to Mexico. That was in 1992 -- more than 15 years ago.

In 2003, Republicans cooperatively staged an all-night session to dramatize Democratic efforts to block President Bush's judicial nominations; earlier that week Reid held the floor for nearly nine hours to protest the Republicans stunt. And earlier this year, Reid kept the Senate in session all night to protest Republicans' refusal to allow a simple majority vote on a measure aimed at withdrawing US troops from Iraq.

Already, Dodd has lined up support from Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), to whom he plans to yield the floor for 20-minute "questions" that would allow him to take quick breaks but keep the filibuster going, reports FireDogLake.

Writing at TPM Cafe, Feingold criticizes Reid's plans to proceed with a measure passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which does not include telecom immunity, instead of with a Judiciary Committee measure that has no immunity. The Intelligence bill will be the base when the Senate begins debate, and the Judiciary measure will be pending as a replacement amendment. It would require 60 votes to supplant the Intel bill with Judiciary's version.

"We have a big fight on our hands, and unfortunately, the deck is now stacked against us," Feingold said. "Instead of being able to defend improvements that were made in the Judiciary Committee, we are going to have to start all over again to try to salvage the good work that was done to improve the bill."

Dodd and Feingold plan to offer an amendment to strip telecom immunity from the FISA update.

Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Feingold criticized the Intelligence Committee's proposal to grant immunity and accused administration officials of lying to Senators last week during a classified briefing about the proposed FISA updates.

"I am certain that over the course of this week, we will hear a number of arguments about why the Judiciary bill will hamper the fight against terrorism. Let me say now to my colleagues: Do not believe everything you hear," Feingold said. "Last week I sat with many of you in the secure room in the Capitol, S-407, and listened to arguments made by the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that several of the examples they gave were simply wrong. Simply false. I am happy to have a classified meeting with anyone in this body who wishes to discuss this."

FDL says comments readers leave there could be read by Sen. Dodd when he takes to the Senate floor, and it is calling on the Senate's other presidential candidates -- Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- to stand by their pledges to support Dodd's filibuster.

"The time for leadership is now, not January 2009. ... You want to be our leader? Leadership begins by standing with Senator Dodd," wrote Scarecrow at FDL Monday.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. Monday, and Dodd's filibuster is expected to begin soon after that. His plan to hold up business on the Senate floor comes as the chamber scrambles to pass several important spending bills and other legislation before recessing for the holidays at the end of this week.

DEVELOPING...

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.