There is one significant pieces of news hitting today about FISA and immunity for telecom companies. The fight is being taken directly to the voters through two complementary strategies. In the House, Steny Hoyer has been relentlessly focused on pulling a deal together, one that would probably grant some sort of de facto immunity to lawbreakers in the Bush administration and in the telecommunications industry (though it's often hard to tell the two apart). He has so far been unable to negotiate between the White House, Jay Rockefeller, Jon Kyl, and liberals in the House, but every time I make inquiries I hear that there is 'encouraging' news that a deal is possible. By the same token, the ACLU is quite aware of what is going on, and has been lobbying aggressively.
As Glenn Greenwald notes, even Speaker Pelosi is pushing for a deal. The significant news is that this issue is being taken to the voters. There are two strategies being employed to make this happen. One, the Blue America PAC has raised $75k and is blanketing freshman Blue Dog Democrat Chris Carney's district with radio, billboard, print, and cable ads criticizing him for caving to Bush on immunity for telecom companies. The extraordinary television ad they put together is here, and the theme is betrayal.
Two, the following radio ad, and one similar to it, are running in the district of Blue Dogs John Tanner in Tennessee and Bud Cramer in Alabama.
You can hear the radio ad in Cramer's district here.
These ads are put together by They Work for Us, an organization sponsored by Moveon and SEIU designed to hold representatives accountable to their constituents. I consult for this organization, and we are experimenting with some issue-based advocacy around core progressive values. This strategy is designed to be a positive encouragement to Congressional representatives to refuse to give immunity to the phone companies. The script is at the bottom of this post.
By moving FISA and civil liberties out of the activist space and educating voters through broadcast media, They Work for Us hopes to demonstrate to Congressional representatives that when Democrats stand up to the lawless Bush administration, voters will be supportive. At the same time, the Blue America action is designed to show that betraying progressives carries substantial costs. Glenn puts it well:
That is true particularly if there continues to be no incentive for Congressional Democrats to pay attention to their base and do anything other than support the right-wing agenda, because they perceive that they only pay a price when they oppose the Right. That is the incentive scheme that has to change.
I first noticed this problem in August, 2007, in a piece about the Working Conservative Majority, in which I traced both how the Democratic caucus has become substantially more progressive in the last six years and that it is still controlled by a swing group of conservative Democrats that mostly reside in the Blue Dog caucus (we call the worst ones part of the 'Bush Dog' caucus). Electing more Democrats - exceptional ones like Darcy Burner, Eric Massa, Leslie Byrne, and Martin Heinrich (who spoke out eloquently on FISA here), is part of the solution. Subsequent to August, progressives have defeated a reactionary Democrat - Al Wynn - in a primary and seated a progressive, Donna Edwards, in his place, but at the same time, added three new Blue Dogs to Congress: Bill Foster, Don Cazayoux, and Travis Childers. It's clear that an incentive system designed around rewarding Democrats, Blue Dog or otherwise, when they oppose radical right-wing policies, and criticizing them when they cave, is necessary. And that's what is happening, with Blue America and They Work for Us.
Receptionist: Mrs. Johnson, is that you? What's the matter? Why are you talking in code?
Woman: (whispering). Because my phone company may be listening.??
VO: Illegal wiretaps by phone and cable companies...it has happened. Giant communication companies illegally spying on ordinary Americans. What did President Bush want to do? He wanted to give them complete immunity - give them a pass.
But House Democrats stood up Bush and voted to make sure that phone and cable companies cant get away with breaking the law.
Now the President is pushing for another vote in Congress. Call Congressman Bud Cramer today at (256) 551-0190. Thank him/her for protecting our privacy and tell him to vote to punish companies that spy on Americans.
Receptionist: Mrs. Johnson? (Sounds of clicking on the line). Hey, who's out there? Who's listening? (phone goes dead).
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