Deluded in DC
So my question to them was — what are they going to do about this newfound sense of “fiscal responsibility” on the part of the Blue Dogs, who want to know how everything is going to be “paid for” now, despite the fact that they never met a war funding bill they wouldn’t vote for?
Playing off this riff, I placed a call to Rep. Patrick Murphy, our closest Blue Dog.
I spoke to the same person I spoke to a few weeks ago about Murphy’s unfortunate vote on FISA, which the Rep’s aide justified by saying that the bill left Bush Administration officials, if not the telecom executives, open to criminal charges, if not civil. “It’s not the telecoms that broke the law,” the aide told me, “but the Bush officials who told them to.”
That didn’t make sense at the time (and still doesn’t), but I was there to tweak them office about the Blue Dog’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, and how that relates to their staunch support for every blank check for Iraq that passes under their noses. The aide informed me that in fact, Murphy had voted against every blank check for the war, which actually rings true, but is something I need to research more fully. The health care spending issue aside, we returned to wiretapping.
“When we spoke last, you mentioned that the FISA bill allows for criminal prosecution of the Bush official who enabled/ ordered this illegal program, but not civil.”
“Correct,” the aide began. “Everyone is up in arms about the telecom immunity, which Rep. Murphy doesn’t like either, but no one is paying attention to Section 1, which basically leaves the people who ordered this subject to criminal charges.” He sounded exasperated.
“Well, maybe that’s because most of us realize that the President is going to pardon these people before he leaves office, just like his dad did, and just like every other president has done.”
The aide stammered for a moment, and then returned to his script. “Yes, but it leaves them open to those charges…”
“That may be, but if you think that Bush isn’t going to pardon these guys on his way out the door… well, anyone who doesn’t see that is naive. And with the House, and soon the Senate, shutting down civil charges, and the President obviously ready to shut down criminal charges, nothing will b done, there will be no accountability.”
“Well look,” the aide retorted, “about those civil charges. At first, it was all about discovery, finding out what happened. but then there were lawsuits…” He said it as if the lawsuits were SO unfair. “On eof them against Verizon was for $50 BILLION DOLLARS! And that’s more than Verizon has!”
I started laughing. “Are you SERIOUS? Look: if I was pulled over by the cops with a quarter pound of marijuana in my car, even if it was just for me with no intent to sell it, do you think ANY judge would say ‘Clearly the penalty for this is a lot more than you can afford, so I’ll give you a special break this time’? That’s ludicrous, and you know it.”
The aide had no response to that either, so he went back to his script about criminal charges, like a broken record. By this time, my dinner was waiting, so I excused myself.
‘In the future, you might want to call your OWN Congressman about these issues,” the aide said.
“Well that’s the thing,” I replied. “Both of my local reps, Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, voted the right way. And that should be embarrassing to you. When Brady ran for Mayor here in Philly, during a debate he was asked how he would handle relations with Bucks County [Philly's neighbor in the northeast], do you know what he said? ‘Buck County, i know where that is.’” The aide laughed.
“So what I’m saying,” I added, “Is that Bob Brady isn’t the brightest bulb in the Christmas tree, and even HE knew to vote against this bill. But Patrick Murphy, who by all accounts is a bright guy, sided with the GOP and those who would reward lawbreaking. I don’t HAVE to call Bob Brady to get him to vote the right way, and I usually don’t have to pressure Fattah either. It’s people like Mr. Murphy and Mr. Sestak who have to be nudged and cajoled into voting the right way.”
And with that I said goodbye, hung up the phone, and enjoyed my steak and baked potato.
The vote on FISA is TODAY. Make your voice heard! And visit Accountability Now/ Strange Bedfellows to make a donation ot the August 8 money bomb. We civil libertarians on the left AND the right are furious with this unnecessary theft of our right to be let alone, and we are going to punish these petty fascists for their crimes.
As always, see Greenwald and firedoglake for more.
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October 9th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
[...] thanks to George Bush, crypto-fascists like Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-Verizon), and local stooges Patrick Murphy, Boob Casey, and Arlen Specter, my private conversations may not have been so private after [...]