Shorter Republicans in Congress: Don’t the Big Telecoms know how badly they need us to help them? Don’t they know that we’ll never ask them to follow the law? What gives?

Roll Call reports that Republicans on the Hill are up in arms over the fact that the telecom industry isn’t giving more money to GOP campaign coffers.

With the House Democrats’ refusal to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies — stalling the rewrite of the warrantless wiretapping program — GOP leadership aides are grumbling that their party isn’t getting more political money from the telecommunications industry.

Like most corporate interests with a heavy stake in Congressional action, the major phone companies significantly boosted their contributions to Democrats last year after the party surged back into the majority.

But giving by that sector is getting special attention from Republicans now that the debate over the surveillance program is front and center — and focused on the phone companies’ role in aiding the Bush administration after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“It’s quite discouraging,” said one GOP leadership aide, referring to the disparity in giving from the telecommunications industry in light of the FISA debate, but also the broader lack of support for Republicans from the business community in general.

“These companies just won’t do anything,” the aide said. “Even when you have the Democrats working against their bottom line.”

It’s pretty pathetic actually. The Republicans are going out of their way to champion an issue that, while the telecoms are happy to benefit from, they’re not demanding in exchange for continued partnership with the US government. The GOP is begging the telecoms to give them the money they need for “air cover” – to continue running attack ads on Democrats in support of the Republican Party’s efforts to destroy the Constitution. Don’t the telecoms get how unpopular what the GOP is doing, don’t they know how badly the Republicans need to Madison Avenue up this issue so people will really get why the Republicans are right?

The National Republican Congressional Committee was $29 million short of its Democratic counterpart in cash on hand as of Jan. 31.

Republicans really are flipping the couch cushions to find revenue streams. They are used to the world of quid pro quo, they just made the mistake of thinking that because they brought fire and brimstone to the FISA fight, that  it was going to result with heaps and heaps of donations from Big Telecom. I don’t know why the telecoms aren’t showing the Republicans the reward they think they deserve, but I find it hilarious to watch them have vapors over it.