First from Obama:
Senator Barack Obama statement on his votes this morning:
“I am proud to stand with Senator Dodd, Senator Feingold and a grassroots movement of Americans who are refusing to let President Bush put protections for special interests ahead of our security and our liberty. There is no reason why telephone companies should be given blanket immunity to cover violations of the rights of the American people – we must reaffirm that no one in this country is above the law.
We can give our intelligence and law enforcement community the powers they need to track down and take out terrorists without undermining our commitment to the rule of law, or our basic rights and liberties. That is why I am proud to cosponsor several amendments that protect our privacy while making sure we have the power to track down and take out terrorists.
This Administration continues to use a politics of fear to advance a political agenda. It is time for this politics of fear to end. We are trying to protect the American people, not special interests like the telecommunications industry. We are trying to ensure that we don’t sacrifice our liberty in pursuit of security, and it is past time for the Administration to join us in that effort.”
Second, from the Washington Post.
Although regionwide numbers were not available during the day, visits to polling stations in the District and its suburbs, and interviews with elections officials, indicated that turnout so far has been unusually high for a presidential primary.
In past years, “by now we would be playing cards . . . it would have been totally dead,” Rafael Beltran III, chief of elections at the polling station in the Verizon building in Arlington, said at 10 a.m.
Instead, the lines stretched long into the lobby, as long as they had been during the pre-work rush. Beltran was already thinking of calling a local judge to seek permission to stay open past 7 p.m., if necessary, to accommodate the crowds.
“Something or someone has energized the voters,” Beltran said, adding that Democrats had shown up in unusual force. “For the first time in years, some candidate or some message is coming out loud and clear.”
By the way, Hillary Clinton did not show up to vote on FISA even though she was in the Capitol region campaigning today.
That’s a very nice statement form Obama. Now, if he were to come out and say that he intends to undo all of this surveillance-state shit once he’s in office, that would be even better.
And Hillary not even showing up, when we all know she’s in the neighborhood, is very telling about where she stands.
is inexcusable.
It’s the final straw.
stop being such a racists sexist.
/snark.
Obama just earned himself significant support from this guy. I can vote for him happily now.
Hillary not showing up is just another reason to view her as ReTHUGlican-lite. She STILL thinks she has the nom. and doesn’t want McCain to say she is soft on terruh in the general, Obama on the hand doesn’t give a crap what the THUGlicans say……
Clinton=triangulating LOSER!
There’s a very good piece by David Lindorff in CounterPunch today about how progressives should think about Obama:
Obama and Progressive Change: Let’s Hope the Movement Transforms the Candidate
“By the way, Hillary Clinton did not show up to vote on FISA even though she was in the Capitol region campaigning today.”
so one can say, she voted “present”
My imagination or is this the first time that Dodd & Feingold have gotten any help from a current frontrunner to move FISA onto the front page?
Today Obama took a step to rescue FISA from obscurity. For all the jumping up and down we’ve done, Obama’s ability to translate a difficult concept into street simple on a day where he has the spotlight is indeed a good sign.
Does anyone know where Lindsey Graham was today? I only ask because he also did not vote on anything, and I was wondering if he and Hillary worked out a vote pairing deal (assuming that they were going to vote opposite ways on everything).
I guess google news is my friend.
So it is possible they paired up.
this was unintentionally funny:
Gotta love those Spaniards.
They do border the French. Clearly not to be trusted.
Not to mention the Portuguese. They’re animals.
They can’t hold a candle to the Andorrans.
I read a news story (you know, actual information as opposed to trash-talking invective) this morning that said Clinton was ready to return for the vote if it was close.
Gee, that’s rather a common practice when senators are campaigning, isn’t it? John Kerry did it all the time.
Fair is fair, and facts are facts.
yeah, when they are campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire. Not Arlington.
Your hatred of Clinton prevents you from admitting you were wrong. There was nothing awful or important about her missing this vote, except for the part in plays in your ongoing narrative.
Oh, really?
She is so desperately short of votes and money that she has to be out hustling, rather than doing her job of representing the WILL OF THE PEOPLE who elected her!
Clinton promised to stand by Dodd. Clinton has broken that promise TWICE. Money is more important to Clinton than reputation or honor. Campaigning is more important to Clinton than upholding her sworn and solemn oath to protect the Constitution. Massaging donors and reassuring advisors is more important to Clinton than doing her job.
Why?
Because she likes the idea of power and wants it more than anything else in the world, including honor. “In it to win it!”, not “In it to serve the WILL OF THE PEOPLE”. It will be her will and her whim and she can taste it already.
Damned all dynasties and every member who thinks they are entitled to rule because of name alone!
The desire for dictatorship is awful and important. A police state with domestic spies, torture, rendition, wars of oppression, mercenaries, and concentration camps with toxic trailers should be easy for a candidate to disavow. But Clinton was too busy raising money to stand on the floor of Congress and put her strength behind Liberty and her opinion on record.
Clinton broke her oath to We the People and Clinton broke her word to Dodd. That is awful and that is important.
I’ll stand up and say I have no hatred for Hillary whatsoever.
But yesterday’s ommission on her part I DO HATE as I believe the FISA debate is one of the most basically relevant issues to all Americans that we’ve seen.
I would have a deep admiration for her if her actions spoke of her commitment to the civil rights battle that is FISA.
Acts of ommission can be every bit as unethical as acts of commision.
THe issue yesterday was not if the vote was close, it was supporting what was the right thing for a leader to do. She was in the neighborhood and her choice not to make the effort to make her stand count was flat wrong.
Well, in most cases this would make sense, but I think this particular piece of legislation has such high symbolic meaning that all senators should make the effort to show up.