Roll Over And Beg Award: Senator Harry Reid

Today's "Roll Over And Beg" award, which will be awarded at random times to politicians whose pandering to absurd constituencies really honks me off, goes to the allegedly Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It's rare, at least so far, for an individual lawmaker to earn this award, but today the Senator from Nevada really earned that biscuit. Incidentally, as was the case with all prior awardees, selection and procurement of biscuits is the responsibility of the awardee.

How did Senator Reid win this singular honor? Let's take a step back to yesterday, when I wrote this:

The "RESTORE" Act, as it is currently written, is a sham. It gives the illegal actions of the Bush Administration legal cover. It allows the government to eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant. As the ACLU has observed, "blanket warrants" aren't warrants at all. They are license for the government to do whatever it wants to listen in on its citizens and to steal their private information.

FISA, RESTORE, and Those Pesky Oaths

Since then, I've seen these warrants also referred to as "basket" warrants, but somehow "blanket", and "umbrella" warrants seem more appropriate terms. The problem with this bill is that it is just about as bad as the travesty they passed in August that was supposed to be temporary. They've changed things here and there, and at least a few civil liberties groups back the measure, but it's basically the old bill with some window dressing, as near as I can tell. The ACLU seems to agree. On the subject of amnesty and the motivation behind domestic surveillance, they say:

With FISA legislation heading to the floor this week, we wanted to make sure everyone was up to speed on the latest. Last week it was revealed in a story in the Rocky Mountain News that illegal domestic spy was going on before 9/11. According to the article, Qwest, a telecom company, was originally approached by the National Security Agency to cooperate in its domestic spying program way back in February 2001. This is significant for two reasons: First, it reiterates that phone companies had a choice whether or not to violate their customers' privacy, and secondly, it proves that the illegal domestic spying program was going on before 9/11. Interesting that the Bush administration says it needs changes to FISA because of 9/11, but we have to ask: If the illegal program was going on before 9/11, does that mean it didn't prevent the 9/11 attacks from happening? This revelation should really be the nail in the coffin for telecom immunity. Let's hope Congress pays attention.

Big FISA Developments Coming This Week

So this thing, as it has been marked up by the Senate intelligence committee, grants both immunity to telecomm executives who really don't need it, and it gives the government the ability to spy on anyone it likes as long as it's willing to state that it's reasonable to believe that no Americans are on the line. Considering the rhetorical contortions Bush's nominee for AG is willing to go through so as not to say that torture the government has conducted in the past is in fact torture, I am not reassured by this.

Reassuringly, there are at least one or two Senators who think this is way more than any government needs. One of those Senators, Chris Dodd (D-CT), has declared his intention to place a hold on this bill, which should keep it from being voted on. As Talking Points Memo explains:

By doing this, Dodd can effectively hold up the telecom immunity bill, because bills are supposed to have unanimous consent in the Senate before going forward. One Senator can make it very difficult to bring a bill to the floor by objecting to allowing it to go to a vote.

Senator Chris Dodd Will Put A Hold On Telecom Immunity Bill

The bill should have died a well-deserved death at this point, but Harry Reid decided to come to the rescue:

Tim Starks of Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate's surveillance bill up for floor debate in mid-November. That's despite the hold that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) plans to place on the measure

CQ: Surveillance Bill Will Go to Senate Floor Next Month

Jane Hamsher takes up the tale from here:

I’m a bit confused here. This just doesn’t happen. So I chatted with someone I know with extensive Hill experience, who said:

“I can’t think of one time when Harry Reid went around his own. It’s just not normal for a leader to do that to his own side. Sometimes you’ll go around Republicans, sometimes they’ll use holds to be “spoilers,” but that happens to the other guy. You just don’t do it to one of your own.”

Consider what happened when Chris Dodd introduced the Emmet Till cold case bill, which called for more money for unsolved civil rights crimes. Tom Coburn put a hold on the bill — and Reid just let it go. The bill died.

Reid Tries To Shut Down Dodd’s Hold

Reid is willing to go against one of his own to pass what, in any sane universe, would be considered an unconstitutional piece of garbage, but is unwilling to oppose someone from the opposition party on the issue of spending some money to uphold civil rights.

For doing his utmost to make sure that we're even less safe from our own government than we were three months ago, Harry Reid richly deserves his Roll Over and Beg Award. And as an extra special prize, the Senator gets to see this picture of him looking like a hopeless putz yet again.

UPDATE (Oct. 19): I neglected to mention that Senator Dodd has an online petition supporting his efforts to stop this bill. Please sign it if you haven't already.

Jane Hamsher reports that Dodd will filibuster the bill, and that Senator Russ Feingold may back him up.

UPDATE 2 (Oct. 19): Taylor Marsh seems just a tad upset with Senator Reid. Yep, really upset.

UPDATE 3 (Oct. 19): TPM Election Central confirms that Dodd has threatened to filibuster if Reid decides to go around the hold:

The threatened filibuster, which comes a day after Dodd revealed to Election Central that he will place a hold on the bill, will place Dodd in direct confrontation with the Dem Senate leadership on a hugely contentious issue.

Dodd's filibuster threat comes in response to reports -- based on anonymous quotes from the leadership's office -- which said that Reid's aides think they can get the bill to the floor despite Dodd's hold.

Dodd Will Filibuster Telecom Immunity Bill If Reid Brings It To Vote

Looks like it's game on. I suggest that if you haven't done so already, you sign Dodd's online petition and then call or write your Senators to tell them you appreciate Dodd's efforts, and want them to help him.