skippy the bush kangaroo: you picked a feinstein to leave me lucille

Thursday, November 15, 2007

you picked a feinstein to leave me lucille

the california democrat party has chosen to ignore the courage campaign's call to censure dianne feinstein. crooks & liars:

it looks like we have difi’s attention people…..

california sen. dianne feinstein and the state’s democratic party pushed back wednesday against a proposal by a coalition of progressives to censure the four-term senator for her recent votes siding with the bush administration, dismissing the proposal as a distraction put forth by activists who did not speak for the majority of democrats in the golden state.

rick jacobs, founder of the courage campaign, one of the progressive organizations backing the censure resolution, said such statements sent the wrong message to california democrats.

“i’m concerned that party employees don’t want to hear from party members,” jacobs said. “i think such statements send a message that is very simple: that we will make the decisions and you shut up and do as your told.”

the courage campaign (of which i’m a supporter) backed a censure motion on dianne feinstein recently for her behavior and the ca democratic party responded yesterday with this:

and here is a quote from the senator’s staff from the sacbee insider site (reg req)

scott gerber, a feinstein aide, defended the senator, saying she “has been an independent voice for california.”

“what people may not know is she was a strong leader in the fight against (now supreme court justice samuel) alito and (chief justice john) roberts,” gerber said, noting she opposed “more than a dozen” circuit court nominees from the bush administration.

the courage campaign reports that moveon.org has joined with the push for censure. we suggest you sign the petition in support of censure.

because, for one thing, she's going to support immunity for the giant telecom companies in all the illegal wiretap cases. sfchron:

sen. dianne feinstein said thursday [ed. note: last thursday, a week ago from today] that she favors legal immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly shared millions of customers' telephone and e-mail messages and records with the government, a position that could lead to the dismissal of numerous lawsuits pending in san francisco.

in a statement at a hearing of the senate judiciary committee, which is considering legislation to extend the bush administration's electronic surveillance program, feinstein said the companies should not be "held hostage to costly litigation in what is essentially a complaint about administration activities."

luckily for us, telecom immunity did not make it thru the senate judiciary committee, and sen. dodd is taking credit for that. thinkprogress:

greg sargent reports that the “version of the fisa bill that was just reported out of the judiciary committee does not — repeat, does not — contain retroactive immunity for the telecom companies.” sen. chris dodd (d-ct) had threatened to place a hold on any fisa bill that contained immunity. the judiciary committee’s action today renders moot the need for such a hold.

we don't know in reality at this point how sen. feinstein voted, but we can guess, so we continue to urge you to sign the petition in support of censure.

Labels: california, censure, democrats, feinstein, telecom immunity

posted by skippy at 4:21 PM |

2 Comments:

funniest headline today.

commented by

Freewayblogger, 10:45 PM PST

Scott Gerber, a Feinstein aide, defended the senator, saying she “has been an independent voice for california. What people may not know is she was a strong leader in the fight against (now supreme court justice samuel) alito and (chief justice john) roberts,” gerber said, noting she opposed “more than a dozen” circuit court nominees from the Bush administration.

Of course! How could I have forgotten those dramatic moments: Senator Feinstein, alone at the Senate podium, conducting a one-woman filibuster against the misbegotten Military Commissions Act, reading for hours, with cracking voice, from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers because the basic legal principle of habeus corpus is the basis of all our other freedoms -- until a roll-call cloture vote shut her down. DiFi, voting again and again to prevent the Southwick nomination from ever getting out of committee.
Sen Feinstein, placing a Senatorial hold on the nominations of Alito and Roberts, which Sen Reid duly honored.

Funny, I can't seem to remember any of those events. When the heat is on, DiFi folds like a card table. Every time.

Unless it's a matter of standing up for corporate profits, or for the perqs of the already-powerful. Then she exerts herself to the fullest.

commented by