A few days ago I wrote a diary on Senator Kerry’s long list of accepting PAC money from corporations . Today Mcjoan has a diary on the FISA bill.
She list 12 Senators who have vowed to support Senator Chris Dodd’s filibuster. Now I am very happy JK voted nay on this bill, but why isn’t the Senator taking a stand and supporting Dodd and Feingoldhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1…
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Now I understand why Senator Rockefeller is voting for amnesty. You receive over $40,000.00 in legalized brib… I mean donations, you vote how the people who butter your bread. Or as in Senator Kerry’s case, snatch the PAC money from the Telecommunications PAC, vote nay on a bill you know won’t pass and walk away. But why is not JK shouting from the rafters that telecommications amnesty is wrong and is standing with the 12 other Senators supporting the filibuster.
We need Senators and congresspeople who support public finance of elections. WE need to find and vote for people who are going to support the majority of the people who vote for them. WE DO NOt need the Kerry’s and Rockefellers, et al who are going to support the richest 1 percent.
That is why I am supporting Ed O’Reilly, progressive democrat for Senate.
The post I wroteDiary
has a link to ALL of the PAC money JK collected.
The article you linked was clearly from before yesterday, so I”m a bit confused. I didn’t see what actually happened with the telecom immunity version yesterday (the TV news dominated by GOP FL primary talk and a little bit of State of the Union) but I called the Senate offices of Kennedy, Obama, and Kerry on this topic yesterday, and the only I got through to was Kerry’s office and the aide who answered said Kerry was opposed to the telecom immunity. Also, Kerry was one of the few who voted against cloture last time this came up.
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p>So, just wondering what exactly Kerry did or did not do yesterday? It be nice if you’d provide a little context at least.
a few days ago. The issue I am having with Sen. Kerry’s is his lackluster performance. He voted against cloture but will not be one, at the time, to back the filibuster. That he was against.
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p>In the 23 years he has been in the Senate, he has held no sommittee chairmanships and has never sponsored lagislation that he created.
Voting for cloture is fine, but it is not the same as actually participating in the filibuster. I wrote about this a few months ago:
http://blogs.umass.edu/derrico… where I said:
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p>One month later, DailyKOS and The New York Times both dealt with the issue in the same way: namely, the Dems need to use the filibuster to protect the Constitution.
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p>Kennedy’s staff told me yesterday he was ready to participate in the filibuster. Kerry’s staff said only that he would not vote for cloture. Kerry is not up to the job of defending the Constitution.
…so Senator Kerry votes the way you want. He is public about it too (so it is not a last minute secret thing after weeks of agonizing), but because he isn’t standing on the Senate floor reading from a recipe book…we should vote for another guy for Senate? Wow…I am glad that the US is so blue now that this is all we have to worry about.
At least the upcoming caucus has motivated Kerry to spend some of his unused presidential campaign funds…got a mailer from him yesterday for the first time in years.
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p>Even if he doesn’t get 15%, at least O’Reilly will have reminded the junior senator what his job is.
Progressive Man says,
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p>”so Senator Kerry votes the way you want. He is public about it too … but because he isn’t standing on the Senate floor reading from a recipe book…we should vote for another guy for Senate?”
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p>Well, yes. When it’s do or die time for the Constitution, where is Senator Kerry? We shouldn’t have to ask.
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p>Four times since first elected to the Senate in 1984, John Kerry has sworn to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
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p>’Defending the Constitution’ takes more than just showing up to vote.
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p>We’re talking about the Bush cabal’s shameful attempt to defang the FISA and wriggle, retroactively, out of criminal and civil liability for its years of warrantless wiretapping.
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p>Oh, and this would violate 4th amendment, too. It’s flat-out unconstitutional, folks.
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p>So it’s not asking too much to ask Senator Kerry to take his toothbrush to the Senate and be ready to help Chris Dodd by reading aloud from, oh, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, The Gettysburg Address, I Have a Dream, anything to halt the Republican (and Rockefeller) unconstitutional attempt to reward these compliant lawbreakers. He needn’t discuss fritters.
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p>I cannot imagine having to call the Senate office of Senate candidate Ed O’Reilly and beg him — beg my own Senator — to fulfill his oath of office and filibuster a blatantly unconstitutional bill.
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p>With Ed O’Reilly’s fierce work ethic, as well as his fierce commitment to the Constitution, Ed would be speaking out against this baneful bill already, promising (like Chris Dodd) to lead the filibuster if it comes to that; informing his constitutents; mobilizing their support; persuading Senate colleagues — and with his toothbrush packed already.
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