Breaking News: Democrat Shows Spine!

While I venture into the political realm occasionally on this blog, figuring there are many other places for people to read about politics, every once in a while something happens that makes me speak up. Recently, news outlets had reported that the Senate had reached a deal in revising FISA that would immunize telecom providers for turning over customer information to the government without a court order. Another disappointing instance of Congress abdicating its responsibilities to uphold the Constitution...

...and then something magical happened. Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat announced that he would place a "hold" on the bill, effectively killing it. Holy crap! On his website, Dodd explains, "I have decided to place a 'hold' on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization."

This is huge. We've heard a lot of talk from Democrats about being willing to stand up to Bush but we've seen little progress. Leading Presidential candidates have talked about their "experience" or "better judgment" that makes them suited for election, but none of them has done much besides talk. Yes, Dodd is running for the Presidency, perhaps its nothing more than politics and yet, at the end of the day, someone has finally done what has needed to be done for the good of this country. We need more leadership like this, whether it comes from Dodd or any of the other candidates, along with Congress in general. Well done.