Oregon Progressives Hammer Smith On FISA
Oregonians are turning up the heat on Gordon Smith and his voting record.
Wilsonville progressive Dave Lewis posted to Blue Oregon yesterday on Smith, FISA and the rule of law.
He praised Ron Wyden for opposing retroactive immunity for the telecom industry and asked why Smith would cancel out Wyden's vote - again.
Key excerpts from Lewis’ post:
-"On Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, Sen. Gordon Smith voted to invoke cloture against Sen. Chris Dodd's filibuster of an amendment to the FISA Amendments Act of 2007. (Thank you Sen. Dodd!) The passage of this amendment would have resulted in giving retroactive immunity to the telecommunication companies and to President Bush and his administration for any of the crimes committed related to the domestic spying on US citizens which was done without legal warrants. Sen. Ron Wyden understands the protections provided to citizens by the Constitution of the United States and as a result he voted no on cloture."
-“By voting for cloture Gordon Smith was accepting and affirming the act of breaking the law. He could actually have been independent and a statesman at the same time by saying no to the illegal wiretapping of US citizens by voting no on cloture. Instead he decided to support the lawlessness of both Pres. Bush's administration and the telecoms.”
-“Clearly, the only reason to provide retroactive immunity is if laws were broken. There is significant testimony that the telecoms and the administration have been performing illegal wiretaps on US citizens long before 9/11 (it started 2 months after Bush took office).”
Posted January 31, 2008 Civil Rights 0 comments
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