We’ve wanted to know how to derail Bushco, we’ve wanted to know how to slap Reid and Pelosi aside the head when they kowtow to Bush and we’ve wanted to know how to break the corporate ownership of OUR representatives.
The Dodd filibuster has given us a clue, by gummit!
It makes a difference when we watch, when they know we are watching.
Crossposted at Dkos:Finally a Fulcrum
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Yesterday we had a slight victory. A FISA bill with telecom immunity was put onto the senate agenda by Sen. Harry Reid. He had other choices. He could have put the house bill up for a vote. He could have put the Judiciary bill up for a vote. Both of those did NOT offer telecom immunity. This is a big deal, because essentially the telecoms broke the law and allowed the Bushco to break the law. It was not something they had to do. And they KNOW THE LAW INTIMATELY! But it looked as if they were going to get immunity and it looked as if Reid had once again caved in to the Repubs point of view. Sen. Dodd got up to filibuster. And he didn’t have much help. Maybe about 10 democrats stepped up. The initial filibuster was voted against, but apparently that still leaves 30 hours of debate on the measure that is allowed. The vote for cloture was 76 to 10. Clinton, Biden and Obama were all out on the hustings looking for that presidential seal. Dodd is too. But we on the blogs were paying attention. Dodd said there were something like 1/2 million emails that supported his viewpoint. Reid withdrew the bill.
What is observed can be changed is a motto in counseling. If you observe a habit long enough, you can see the underlying motives for that habit and that observation will help you change or modify that habit. But more than that. If we suspect we are being observed, we might put on better behavior (company manners) or we might object (act out). But something will change in how we respond to regular events in that case. If we are sociopaths, we might then go underground and do the bullying or sado/masochistic behavior our dynamic might call for. So we can change the senate’s behavior just by letting them know we are watching and paying attention.
But it has to be massive. 1/2 million seems to be the key. And not just the emails either. People called and faxed as well.
We would have to have a great deal of help to develop this strategy. Move-on did a great deal, FiredogLake and others as well pushed for contacting the senate. We would have to know what bills were up and what they contained and which committees were working them, etc. We would need people on the hill giving us info. And those folks are busy and may not want a deluge of emails as a result of letting us know what was up.
But what else could we do with this? Impeachment comes to mind. 1/2 million emails to the house Judiciary committee and to Pelosi in support of impeachment might funnel a focus right through that business as usual bunch. But there might also have to be an ad or some kind of news story that would highlight that effort.
Could we affect the bush bubble? I bet we could. I bet we could get all sorts of folks to resign if we pushed hard enough. Maybe Addington? Maybe Cheney?