Senate democrats are preparing to capitulate to the republicans on yet another issue. No wonder the democrats are seen as the weaker party.
While Senator Obama has the excuse of not wanting to appear too liberal, what happened to the other democrats? Where is "the fighter" that many of us supported? Some, including me, thought that it would look like Senator Clinton is undermining Barack Obama if she opposes FISA. But is how you appear to some Obama supporters more important than protecting the constitution? I hear that Senator Clinton has released a statement opposing retroactive immunity(couldn't find a link to it anywhere though), but I am sure that Senator Clinton could sway at least a few other senators if she comes out strongly against it (call Senator Clinton).

Today's NYTimes editorial starts

Congress has been far too compliant as President Bush undermined the Bill of Rights and the balance of powers. It now has a chance to undo some of that damage -- if it has the courage and good sense to stand up to the White House and for the Constitution.

This is a real opportunity for Senator Obama. Senator Obama can show that he is strong, if he stands by what he said in January, rather than capitulating to a minority republicans (some of whom may not be there next year) and a president with 23% approval rating.

But, while they decide on capitulating so easily, we can still continue our efforts. Here's what you can do

Call your senators using the simple tool
http://tools.advomatic.com/7/fisa
or
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?ale rtId=389&pg=makeACall

Tell them to:

• Support the rule of law and vote YES on the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy and Bingaman amendments.
• Oppose expansion of government surveillance powers and vote NO on the FISA bill

If you would like to join us, please call your Senator, join the group on myBO and Facebook, and help get the word out!

Check out the new discussion forum at getfisaright.com!

This is a response to Senator Obama's response to the Get FISA right effort mybarackobama. Link

We ask you to reconsider your current position on the bill as a whole and strongly oppose a bill about which you said, "I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power." In your statement you also wrote, "In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited." We agree. Our nation just spent the holiday weekend in celebration of our independence from unlimited government authority. America in 1776 wished to be strong and free. Much has changed in 232 years but Americans will never consciously abandon freedom.

Full text after the jump.

What you can do

Please sign Senator Feingold's petition to all senators. This petition will be sent to all senators on Tuesday.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/activ ities/92-senate-petition-to-stop-telecom -immunity

Call your senators offices tonight! Leave a message so that they can start off their Monday morning listening to lots of anti-FISA voicemails. The easiest way to do that is here. Other ways to contact your senators are here

If you would like to join us, please call your Senator, join the group on myBO and Facebook, and help get the word out!

Check out the new discussion forum at getfisaright.com!

From the diaries, jerome

As I mentioned in my previous post, the “Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right” group is rapidly growing. An open letter was sent to senator Obama's office this morning and they are preparing a response to this.

(We continue to hear that they're working on a statement, but it's getting late, so we decided to take the initiative to make sure we have something out before the weekend.

Please repost widely! - promoted by JonPincus)

            sent by Mike Stark to Senator Obama's office and his campaign at roughly 11:45 a.m. EDT today.  also posted on the Get FISA right wiki and elsewhere)

Here is the full text

Dear Senator Obama,

On October 24, 2007, your campaign spokesman said, “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.”

On June 20, 2008 you said, of retroactive immunity, “I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.”

As the largest grass-roots group on your campaign website, my.BarackObama.com, and in the spirit of your open/responsive government campaign pledges, we wish to share our ideas for how we may work together to further the goal of eliminating retroactive immunity from the FISA legislation scheduled for debate in the Senate next week. Although this is only one of the problems we see with legislation allows the government to wiretap the communications of its citizenry without a warrant, it’s the area we think we can help you the most.

First, Senator Obama, we ask that you make the same tools that we used to call undecided voters in Iowa and New Hampshire available for us to call our fellow citizens in West Virginia, Nebraska, Delaware, Florida and other states that have Senators committed to voting against the amendment that would strip telecom immunity. You have the tools and we have the people power. Together, we are confident we can bring Change; we can make the government listen to the people instead of the telecom lobbyists.

Second, Senator Obama, we ask that you attend the Senate debate and schedule floor time to speak about the violence done to the rule of law when Congress retroactively immunizes the illegal conduct of a special interest. We know you understand that justice should not be sold to the highest special interest bidder; we also know that you can persuade other Senators that are not so clear on the issue. Of course, if you do this, our committed members will surely capture the video of your inspiring oratory, load it to YouTube and spread your words to our friends and family far and wide. We trust in your ability to bring a new way of doing business to Washington and look forward to helping you make that Change a reality.

Senator Obama, the my.BarackObama.com caption reads, “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I’m asking you to believe in yours.” We’re ready to put these words into practice.

Thank you.

The 15,000+ (and rapidly growing) members

Please join the group “Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right” to show your support for the effort against FISA.

Join over 5000 (and counting) fellow Obama supporters in requesting Obama to vote against FISA. Join the group, Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right , on mybarackobama. The group profile reads

Senator Obama - we are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!

Openleft's MattStoller writes:

I'm an Obama donor and supporter, and I joined this group on MyBarackObama.  There are a little over 1700 people in it.  You should join it if you have an account on MyBO.

TPM's Greg Sargent writes:

Well, since then it's grown rapidly: It now has  over 4,000 members.

That's six times the 500 or so it had on Friday. It's a strong signal from Obama's own supporters that they won't sit idly by when he takes a position that they view as a betrayal of the change movement he's building.

Now the membership is almost 5100.
It's good to see that the progressives taking some action on this issue. We have until July 7th, to make our voices heard. We may get more time thanks to Senators Feingold and Dodd's efforts. So, Join Now.

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