Glenn Greenwald sums it up nicely:

There is a major push underway -- engineered by Obama's Treasury officials, enabled by a mindless media, and amplified by the right-wing press -- to blame Chris Dodd for the AIG bonus payments. That would be perfectly fine if it were true. But it's completely false, and the scheme to heap the blame on him for the AIG bonus payments is based on demonstrable falsehoods.

Jane Hamsher (who's really been on fire lately) breaks it all down, step by step. A well-placed leak to the New York Times (who's always oh-so-grateful for any story they don't have to actually investigate) was all it took to finger Dodd as the bad guy.

But, as Glenn says, it's just not true.

It was Dodd who did everything possible -- including writing and advocating for an amendment -- which would have applied the limitations on executive compensation to all bailout-receiving firms, including AIG, and applied it to all future bonus payments without regard to when those payments were promised. But it was Tim Geithner and Larry Summers who openly criticized Dodd's proposal at the time and insisted that those limitations should apply only to future compensation contracts, not ones that already existed. The exemption for already existing compensation agreements -- the exact provision that is now protecting the AIG bonus payments -- was inserted at the White House's insistence and over Dodd's objections. But now that a political scandal has erupted over these payments, the White House is trying to deflect blame from itself and heap it all on Chris Dodd by claiming that it was Dodd who was responsible for that exemption.

From a Feb. 14th article in the Wall St. Journal:

The most stringent pay restriction bars any company receiving funds from paying top earners bonuses equal to more than one-third of their total annual compensation. That could severely crimp pay packages at big banks, where top officials commonly get relatively modest salaries but often huge bonuses.

As word spread Friday about the new and retroactive limit -- inserted by Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut -- so did consternation on Wall Street and in the Obama administration, which opposed it.

Lots more, go read.

Tonight's debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah "Main Street, Wasilla" Palin yielded few fireworks, but Biden did a good job of keeping the focus where it should be -- on John McCain, his miserable voting record and the fact that a McCain presidency would look a lot like the disaster we've seen from George Bush.

Biden: "Past is prologue, Gwen. The issue is how different is John McCain's policy going to be than George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy will be different with Israel than George Bush's, I haven't heard how his policy on Afghanistan will be different than George Bush's, I haven't heard how his policy in Pakistan will be different than George Bush's. It may be, but so far, it is the same as George Bush's, and you know where that policy has taken us. We will make significant change, so once again, we're the most respected nation in the world. That's what we're going to do."

Once again Bush shrinks into the background and lets someone else take the responsibility of a catastrophe during his administration. It shows in the polls.

Howie has statements from some of our Blue America candidates on the bail out....

So does Matt Stoller...

Congress cannot let President Paulson have a blank check. We can't be shocked (buy the “The Shock Doctrine”) into something once again...Although Dodd's bill seems to be better overall...

 Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is taking much more aggressive approach to the Treasury bailout plan, demanding foreclosure assistance, limits on executive compensation and profit sharing for taxpayers if the Treasury begins to make money back on the bad debt it plans to purchase.

Dodd's legislation, obtained this morning by Politico, has just started to circulate among Senate legislative directors. His plan addresses many of the concerns raised by Democrats and Republicans who are concerned about handing over $700 billion blank check to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Part of me wants to let it burn.. Let the credit crisis hit and let Americans see really what it's like to live under Conservative/Milton Friedman rule...Then, being a Conservative would be poison for-evah. OK, that part is wishful thinking... 

Nicole posted a clip yesterday showing FOXNews bringing on the wingnuts who are simply apoplectic over past inflammatory statements made by the former pastor of Barack Obama's church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It comes as no surprise to anyone that Chris Wallace continued the same line of attack this morning on Fox News Sunday.

Download | play Download | play

Wallace interviewed Senators Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer about Rev. Wright's comments and he absolutely refused to let go of the notion that people should be scared of Obama because he attended Wright's church for 20 years, and hey, after all the time they MUST agree on everything, right? Dodd calls him out on his veiled assertions:

"Well, I would certainly disagree with this individual, we've all been in situations like that, but the idea somehow that this is deeply involved and ingrained, that this is really who Barack Obama is, what you're suggesting, or those who are making these accusations, is this is really who Barack Obama is. Anyone who knows this man, who's worked with him, who's spent time with him would say this is totally unlike him, it's not him at all. And so the suggestion somehow that this is really who this candidate is is really an unfair accusation."

Schumer agrees with Dodd that this is a distraction from the real issues that Americans are concerned about, and brings up John McCain's welcomed endorsement from anti-Catholic religious zealot, John Hagee, although he doesn't mention him by name. Regardless of the fact that Obama has rejected Wright's statements and he's no longer a member of his campaign, Wallace never relents from the FOXNews theme -- Americans should be frightened of Obama because he's really a closeted, anti-American, black militant. If you think about it, this was the only move for Fox. The whole Obama is a Muslim meme isn't working out so well and since they're being forced to report that he really is a Christian, they have no choice but to attack his church.

Sen. Chris Dodd spoke out against immunity for the telecoms on the Senate floor Monday night as they prepare to vote on the new FISA bill today and quoted our pal, Glenn Greenwald. (rough transcript)

Dodd: And the idea that this body would grant retroactive immunity in the face of these challenges and deny the courts an opportunity to determine at the mere request of a president....the major companies for years on end can sweep up---vacuum up to use the Church committees language, every telephone conversation, every fax , every email of millions and millions of Americans is a precedent I don't think we would want to have left as part of our heritage in coming generations. And believe me they will look back to us...Constitutional lawyer and author Glenn Greenwald expressed the high stakes this way, Mr. President and I quote:

'The Bush administration will be gone in eleven months, but in the absence of some meaning accountability all of this will remain. If these theories remain undisturbed and unchallenged. And all of these crimes go un-investigated and unpunished, that will have a profound impact on changing our national character and further transforming the type of country we are.'

 We're recording it, but you can stream from C-Span

Sen. Chris Dodd is coming out to demand that the retroactive immunity be stripped from the FISA bill, no thanks to Harry Reid.   It's a little confusing, but from what I gather this is NOT the filibuster but will lead up to the filibuster tomorrow.

When Chris Dodd pulled out of the presidential race, he promised to keep up the good fight on the FISA bill and filibuster it if it contained retroactive immunity for telecoms. For showing this leadership, there was an outcry from the netroots to support Dodd as Majority Leader. Unfortunately, that support from the electorate (I mean, how dare he listen to the people who put him in office? The nerve!) as well as his continued pledge to filibuster the FISA bill is making Chris Dodd a very isolated person within his caucus. Per Roll Call (subscription req'd):

(D)uring his campaign for the presidency, Dodd chose to focus much of his time and energy on foreign policy issues and became an outspoken critic of President Bush's wiretapping programs, going so far as to filibuster a compromise Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization because of privacy concerns.

That prompted some private complaints from Democrats, who felt Dodd should have focused more on core issues under his committee's jurisdiction, particularly when the foreclosure crisis began to heat up last fall. Party leaders were reportedly unhappy with the fact that Dodd did not spend more time personally working on the mortgage legislation his committee produced and which Sen. Charles Schumer ( D-N.Y.) ultimately helped shepherd out of the chamber.

And while some hard feelings may remain, Dodd is set on hitting the ground running in terms of his committee work this year, planning an aggressive agenda that will feed into the party's broader economic efforts, aides said.[..]

Democrats said the FISA fight - which could come in the first week or two of the new session - may be an early test of whether Dodd's presidential campaign has caused any significant strains in his relationships with colleagues.

One senior Democratic aide said that while some Democrats could have been irked in the heat of the moment, most understand it is the nature of presidential campaigning for candidates to tackle hot-button issues and to rely heavily on veteran staff for day-to-day work in the Senate.

"I think it's too early to say" whether there are any hard feelings, the Democratic aide said. "But I think you could term it as a key few months for him" in terms of his reintegration into the Caucus. "It will be interesting to watch when he returns," the aide said.

For those not fluent in DC passive-aggressive speak, allow me to translate the "anonymous Democratic aide" for you: "okay, we know you needed to do something to stand out from the pack during your campaign, but now you need to get in line, or you'll find yourself at odds with your caucus." That's right...the Senate Democratic leadership doesn't like it when you step away from their agenda of signing off on every one of Bush's threatened vetoes and take a stand. Look at the telecom donations and see if you see some familiar names.

Dodd needs our support. I've been in contact with his team and they want responses from citizens that they can show his staff as well as others to let them know that we have Dodd's back to continue this fight. Please contact Sen. Dodd or leave a comment on this thread supporting his leadership.

PFAW also has ways you can get involved to fight telecom immunity.

UPDATED: ThinkProgress has White House spokesperson Tony Fratto's hysterical fear mongering designed to corner the Senate into passing the FISA law with the immunity:

“We’re exactly three weeks away,” he said, “from the date when terrorists can be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies”.

You know this kind of scare tactic is Harry Reid's Achilles heel, he's petrified to look soft on "terra", so your support of Dodd is even more crucial.

I can't tell you how bad I feel about the turnout for Sen. Chris Dodd. He has been such a champion of our values and his campaign and office have been the absolute best to work with.

It's a long video...but note that towards the end, Chris Dodd acknowledges we in the netroots and promises to continue to support us.

I will carry the determination and courage of this campaign, as well as the result-oriented leadership I offered, back to the important battles that need to be won for the future of our country.

As I have for 26 years, I intend to serve by building broad, bipartisan support for bold ideas rooted in Democratic principles, turning them into national policies.

I commit that the fights we've waged in this campaign will not end tonight, from our Constitution to reversing global warming.

Whether it is the dozens that worked the field...the hundreds that worked the phones...or the tens of thousands that took to the blogs, I will make sure that the voices that spoke with us in this campaign are not forgotten but amplified.

Not ignored - but championed.

Thank you, Sen. Dodd.

 Here's another reason to like Chris Dodd. Andrea Mitchell wanted to know who Chris Dodd would support for the presidential nomination because she said there were reports that other candidates who are not considered to be in the top tier are cutting deals. He would have none of that talk and said it was irresponsible for any candidate to cut deals or endorse another candidate because his supporters are---you know---supporting him. She kept pressing the issue, but he didn't back down. It's nice to know he won't be auctioning off his supporters.

Download | play Download | play

Dodd: Yea, I'm totally opposed to that and let me take advantage of the interview Andrea saying don't make any calls to my office, any campaigns...I didn't come here and spend a year campaigning in Iowa...working and expect the people who committed themselves to me at my behest and support someone else. They made a decision to be for me and I'm grateful to them.

BillO called in to his guest host Laura Ingraham to give his thoughts on the Bhutto assassination in which he says Musharraf has one more chance to get with the program, or else! (rough transcripts throughout.)

Download | play Download | play

O'Reilly: I'm gonna say this on the Factor and people should write it down. Musharraf's last chance. Musharraf is going to wind up in a pool of blood. Just like Miss Bhutto, if he doesn't throw in with NATO and the United States and throw in tomorrow.

...so the US should have a very strong line privately to Musharraf. "This is your last chance, sir." You either do what you have to do and throw in with us and that means with advisers on missions or we're going to walk away.

Laura: It seems like we've been giving Musharraf many chances...

O'Reilly: This is it.

Here's a memo to Bill. There have already been numerous assassination attempts of him already. The administration is certainly not going to walk away from Pakistan. And as all the networks and pundits have been pointing out all day long (funny how they never talked about their nukes before)---the company line is that Pakistan has nukes and the US needs to protect them. SO who will that fall to. Mr. Bill? And his good pal John Bolton isn't very happy with BushCO's handling of Pakistan either. He thinks there's been too much meddling in their affairs. "Micromanaging" as he calls it.

Download | play Download | play

Continue reading »

h/t Heather for video

Wisconsin Democrat, Russ Feingold, spoke eloquently yesterday as he joined Senator Dodd's successful bid to stop the latest FISA legislation in the Senate that would have given retroactive immunity to telecom companies who betrayed the American people by spying on us without warrants. Below are excerpts of his post at TPM Cafe. Senator Feingold has always been a huge supporter of protecting our civil liberties and deserves our thanks for fighting for us all. Drop him a line and let him know you appreciate it.

Via TPM Cafe:

As you all know by now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided last night to pull the deeply flawed Intelligence Committee FISA bill from the floor. He announced that we would return to the bill in January. Senator Chris Dodd did a great job controlling the floor for much of yesterday, insisting on full debate of the motion to proceed after cloture was invoked. We made it clear that we will do everything we can to stop this bad bill from being jammed through. Other Senators, including Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden, Sherrod Brown, and Ben Cardin, eloquently laid out many of the problems with this bill. And even Senators who supported the bill in the Intelligence Committee, such as Sheldon Whitehouse and Dianne Feinstein, made valuable contributions to the debate.

The grassroots involvement on this issue has been nothing short of amazing. I was pleased to be part of yesterday's success, but we have earned only a temporary respite. We must not squander the extra time we've been given. We must keep the pressure on and fight back against the administration's fear-mongering. The Senate made a mistake when it failed to protect the rights and freedoms of the American people in the Patriot Act in 2001 and again during the reauthorization of that law two years ago. It compounded those mistakes many times over in the so-called Protect America Act. It is time to stop giving in to an administration that does not respect the rule of law. Read on...

Download | play Download | play

Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Chris Dodd, appeared on Tuesday's Countdown to discuss his victory on the Senate floor yesterday, by forcing an amendment to the FISA legislation that would have given retroactive immunity to telecom companies that spied on Americans without warrants, to be tabled till next January - or February.

Senator Dodd showed the same passion and leadership talking with guest host Alison Stewart as he did last night on the Senate floor, vowing once again to filibuster the bill in January if immunity is still included and saying that to do so would be pretending like these crimes never happened. Dodd, unlike most of the Democratic leadership, shows no fear of President Bush, excoriating him for trampling all over our Constitution.

Dodd: "...The president said he'd veto the legislation if that immunity were not in the bill. Imagine this, passing a bill that would allow us to get better information about those who would do us harm and protect our rights. He'd squander all of that to protect a few phone companies. I'm not going to stand for it, I'll go back and filibuster it if I have to. [snip]

"I've been asked, what's the first thing I'd do as president in the year 2009, and January 20th. And I'm going to give you back your Constitution, because this administration has gone out of it's way to do just the opposite and the Constitution does not belong to a political party or a candidate and they've been trampling all over it."

Sadly, the New York Times followed much of the liberal media and buried the story of Dodd's historic fight on page A29.

Chris Dodd thanks the netroots for their support and congratulates his colleagues for their help in the fight against retroactive immunity.

"Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy. The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens. I want to thank the thousands of Americans throughout the country that stood with me to get this done for our country."

The progressive blogs, who played a huge role in lobbying the Senate to support Dodd's leadership against retroactive immunity, are joining in the celebration now that the FISA bill has been pulled until next year.

In an email, Athenae of First Draft writes, "Seriously, that was some awesome with awesome sauce and a side of pure, crispy win."

Crooks & Liars has video of Dodd's closing remarks this evening.

Jason Rosenbaum at The Seminal writes, "This victory means Dodd's filibuster has weight. It also makes it much more likely that he will win round two as he continues to stand up for the Constitution and against telecom immunity."

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post sets the early narrative - one which I think accurately describes how events evolved over the course of the last few days - in an article titled "Dodd's Filibuster Threat Persuades Reid."[..]

Also, thanks to everyone at FireDogLake for all the help driving activism today.

 You can keep giving Chris Dodd the props he's due at ChrisDodd.com

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Guest host Alison Stewart brings on Air America's Sam Seder to recap Sen. Dodd's courageous FISA filibuster stand-off yesterday and the power of people-powered politics.

Democratic presidential candidates oppose immunity, but when the FISA debate began today, only one had left Iowa to fight the battle in Washington.

Yeah, how about that? BooMan wants to know Where Were The Other Senators?

We're really quick with the stick when we feel our elected representatives are not representing (I don't want to imagine what Harry Reid's voicemail sounds like now). Here's a chance for you to give a carrot or two for the one elected representative who did. If you are able, please consider making a small donation to Chris Dodd. Trust me, you'll see the others sit up and take notice.

UPDATED: We'll leave this post on top of the page for the time being.

FISA Retroactive immunity passes 76-10...Dodd is arguing against a 60 vote requirement needed to pass his amendment by Reid... Boxer gives a nice speech and she voted with Dodd against the bill. Here's the list:

Boxer - D/California, Brown - D/Ohio, Cantwell - D/Washington, Cardin - D/Maryland, Dodd - D/Connecticut, Feingold - D/Wisconsin, Harkin - D/Iowa, Kerry - D/Massachussetts, Menendez - D/New Jersey, Wyden - D/Oregon

UPDATE #2 As for the other Democratic presidential candidates, although they have all released statements that they support Dodd’s efforts, Obama’s and Clinton’s offices have given conflicting information as to whether their respective candidates will come to D.C. Biden is sadly one of the 76 who voted to proceed with the bill. Correction: Biden voted "present". My apology for the confusion.

DiFi introduced two amendments, one with limited immunity to telecoms. Kennedy is speaking now…

Here’s a flow chart that helps makes sense of the procedure.

~*~*~*~*~

We've asked you to come up with some suggestions for things that Senator Dodd could read on the Senate floor in his filibuster of the FISA/telecom immunity after Harry Reid's dirty dealings (and betrayal to his party).

You've all done a great job. Lots of you recommended that he read the Constitution, a document of which I think many in Washington must be reminded.

But now, in this fresh thread, I'm asking you to write a letter to Sen. Dodd. Tell him how you feel about his principled stand and what the erosions of our civil liberties has meant to you, especially with the compliance of Congress. Please keep them profanity-free, so that Senator Dodd can read them on the Senate floor and let's have our voices heard by these elected representatives who have forgotten that it is WE who are in charge and they work for us.