Dissent is Patriotic, the FISA bill is not

marjorie says...

Happy Red, White and Blue day.

In the spirit of the 4th, I want to direct you all to Tracy Dingman's column at the NMI, in which she discusses the patriotism embodied in the act of dissent.

In his own way, Barack Obama says a similar thing, when he allows a group that opposes his positions to become the largest group on his social networking site. He also responded publicly to the group yesterday, saying that dissenting activists among his base are responsible for making the FISA compromise bill better, even if it isn't perfect.

And then Obama says he'll vote for the bill even though it grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped George Bush spy on us.

Yes, they spied on "us."

When one U.S. citizen is spied on by it's own government--it's a collective infringement on all of us. We should take it very seriously. Obama should not vote for a bill that grants such immunity to large corporations holding the key to our private communications. To do so sends a very dangerous message that such actions will be shrugged off.

This is very serious. How much are we willing to give up?

Obama puts a lie to his own words that dissent is patriotic when he then indicates he'll sign a bill that lets those who spy off the hook.

And there are alternatives.

Having said all that about Obama...

Obama is the 2008 nominee and he's under a lot of scrutiny. He needs to win.

Sure, on the issue of immunity for those telecom companies, we can't help ourselves...we want him to lead the Dems *now*...

But let's get real. This is about the Democratic Party. Last time I checked, they were in the majority.

The rest of the Dems aren't off the hook if they pass that bill with immunity intact. It will be a shameful day for the Democrats as a whole.

And I don't get what the problem is...pass a good bill and put the onus on Bush, where it belongs.