This is from yesterday. Senator Chris Dodd lays into the Republican leadership for their obstructionist tactics and makes clear how unprecedented a situation the Republicans have brought us to in the Senate.

Crooks & Liars has the full video of Dodd’s speech on FISA. The text of Dodd’s prepared remarks can be read here.

Update:

Dodd’s speech is around 5,000 words long and finding one part to quote was hard, so I didn’t do it. I’ll just pull Athenae’s favored section and call it a day.

We’ve let outrage upon outrage upon outrage slide with nothing more than a promise to stop the next one.
There is only one issue here. Only one. The law issue. Attack the president’s contempt for the law at any point, and it will be wounded at all points.

That’s why I’m here today. I am speaking for the American people’s right to know what the president and the telecoms did to them. But more than that, I am speaking against the president’s conviction that he is the law. Strike it at any point, with courage, and it will wither.

That’s the big deal. That is why immunity matters—dangerous in itself, but even worse in all it represents. No more. No more. This far, Mr. President—but no further.

More and more, Americans are rejecting the false choice that has come to define this administration: security or liberty, but never, ever both.

It speaks volumes about the president’s estimation of the American people that he expects them to accept that choice.

The truth, though, is that shielding corporations from lawsuits does absolutely nothing for our security. I challenge the president to prove otherwise. I challenge him to show us how putting these companies above the law makes us safer by an iota.

That, I am convinced, he can’t do.

A-freaking-men, Senator.