Obama on the Constitution, Dodd

Yes, please:

We know it’s time to time to restore our Constitution and the rule of law. This is an issue that was at the heart of Senator Dodd’s candidacy, and I share his passion for restoring the balance between the security we demand and the civil liberties that we cherish.

The American people must be able to trust that their president values principle over politics, and justice over unchecked power. I’ve been proud to stand with Senator Dodd in his fight against retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry. Secrecy and special interests must not trump accountability. We must show our citizens – and set an example to the world – that laws cannot be ignored when it is inconvenient. Because in America – no one is above the law.

It’s time to reject torture without equivocation. It’s time to close Guantanamo and to restore habeas corpus. It’s time to give our intelligence and law enforcement agencies the tools they need to track down and take out terrorists, while ensuring that their actions are subject to vigorous oversight that protects our freedom. So let me be perfectly clear: I have taught the Constitution, I understand the Constitution, and I will obey the Constitution when I am President of the United States.

Finally, it’s time to once again inspire this nation to rally behind a common purpose – a higher purpose. Throughout his campaign, Senator Dodd spoke eloquently about the need to turn the page to a new era of public service. That is the legacy of his own family – the legacy of a father who stood up to the Nazis at Nuremberg, and a young man who enlisted in the Peace Corps after he heard President Kennedy’s call to service on a cold Inauguration Day.

Hat tip to Dean Barker for highlighting this passage. I’d read the full speech earlier today but had only linked to it. This passage was definitely worthy of more attention, though.

China Censoring Journalist Reading Materials

The People’s Republic of China, less than six months before the Beijing Olympics, is still not a free society, not even for the Western press. McClatchy Beijing Bureau Chief Tim Johnson writes on his blog China Rises of having a non-fiction book confiscated from his luggage in the Lhasa airport by Chinese security:

One security agent signaled another one over, who knew some English, to peruse the books. They asked me to take off the plastic wrap around two of them. He opened each one and flipped through the pages. I thought maybe he believed I had sliced out a secret compartment in the middle of the books, which obviously I hadn’t done.

He took particular interest in one book: Buddha’s Warriors, by Mikel Dunham, a 2004 account of how the CIA helped turn peaceful monks into armed warriors to fight the Chinese invasion of Tibet. I haven’t read the book but best as I could tell it was a historical review of a brief and long-forgotten U.S. policy during the early Cold War era.

Here’s the problem: The book has photos, including of cadres during the Cultural Revolution belittling class enemies in mass rallies in Tibet. The agent studied the photos, and quickly looked at me. “This is false history,” he said.

Astonished that he could make such a quick determination, I said that the book was about a failed U.S. policy more than four decades old. He was not moved. He suggested that I could buy “true” histories of Tibet at the main market in Lhasa. Reminded that I wasn’t staying in Lhasa, he just shook his head and said the book was confiscated.

I’m sure it was for my own good.

Johnson was merely passing through the Lhasa airport on his way back to Beijing, but his luggage was subject to search and he had a brand new text on modern Tibetan history confiscated. It contained information – identified by border agents through photos, but knowing Buddha’s Warriors there’s certainly much more that might be objectionable to these agents – that the Chinese government does not allow inside Tibet and China. So one of the most respected and well-known Western journalists working inside China had a book confiscated.

Can it get more plain than this? China is not a free country. Tibet is an occupied country. Histories that differ with the revisionism approved by the Chinese Communist Party are forbidden, even when carried and owned by non-citizen journalists.  The pending Olympic Games have brought no relaxation of censorship, no increase in media access, no loosening of the Great Wire Wall. And yet there continues to be zero consequence for China’s continued illiberal actions in the face of their promises to the International Olympic Committee.

What a disgrace.

Hat tip to Mikel Dunham for alerting me to this incident.

Dodd to Endorse Obama Today

And he’ll be hitting the campaign trail with Obama.

After a prolonged silence through most of the primary season, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is rejoining the presidential race on somebody else’s team — Sen. Barack Obama’s.

The Connecticut senator, whose own presidential campaign failed to draw enough attention to propel him past the first contest in Iowa, is expected to announce his endorsement of Obama this morning, according to a Democratic official close to Dodd. He’ll then campaign with Obama in Ohio.

Obama’s campaign hopes that the March 4 primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island will be the victory that clinches the Democratic nomination for him. When he faces Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in another debate tonight — the last before these pending primaries — he’ll do it with Dodd in his corner.

It’s unclear what Dodd’s task will be with the campaign or whether he’ll be hitting those last two New England states still awaiting primaries next week. But if Obama eventually gets the nomination, Connecticut’s two senators will be in opposing campaigns. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is one of Republican Sen. John McCain’s staunchest allies.

What I find particularly interesting is that Dodd is first former Democratic presidential candidate to endorse. Biden, Richardson, Edwards, and Kucinich have all withheld their endorsement until now. In contrast, I think every Republican presidential candidate of note who dropped out of the primary, quickly endorsed another candidate.

Eric Kleefield of TPM Election Central says Dodd will be campaigning with Obama in Ohio.

Update:

The text of Dodd’s email to supporters is here. Obama’s speech accepting Dodd’s endorsement is here.

Where Are the Campaign Reform Groups?

Mark Schmidt and Jane Hamsher ask a question that I’ve been wondering the last few days while writing about McCain’s FEC problems: why are the campaign finance reform groups remaining silent on McCain’s efforts to break the law and back out of federal matching funds? Why are they silent now, when five of them demanded Obama take matching funds on the basis of a previous willingness to consider public financing?

Remember, Obama’s position was staked out through a written questionnaire and could charitably be put as him keeping an open mind towards using public financing if his GOP opponent did the same. This is nowhere near John McCain’s current situation, where he used his FEC authorization as collateral for a $4 million line of credit (75% used) and a means to get on the ballot in at least Ohio, Kentucky, Delaware, and Montana. McCain is either about to or already has exceeded his spending limit for the entire primary – and we’re still six months from the Republican nominating convention.

The silence from the campaign finance reform groups is deafening.

Obama Showing Dems How To Stand Up To Republicans

What Glenn said:

Perhaps (in part) because he wasn’t in Washington in 2002, Obama’s response here is the opposite of all of that. He’s not the slightest bit defensive. To the contrary, he went out of his way to raise numerous examples of why it is the flag-waving Republicans whose “patriotism” ought to be in doubt, if anyone’s should be. Without having to do so, Obama even went and raised the issue which Republicans currently think is their big, bad weapon — warrantless spying on Americans — and used it against them, to argue that spying on Americans is a profound violation of core American political principles, a far more substantive test of “patriotism” than what pretty accessories one wears with one’s clothes.

Obama’s approach illustrates the fundamental difference between these two types responses:

* Even though I am kind of against the war and a little bit against the new FISA bill for now, I love my country and want to protect Americans, too, just like the Republicans do — honest (the standard Democratic response); and, * If anyone’s patriotism should be considered suspect, it’s those who want to send Americans off to die in a worthless and destructive war and those who want to eviscerate our basic political values by torturing, detaining people with no rights, and spying on American citizens with no warrants (the gist of Obama’s response here).

Slimy accusations that one is “soft on the Terrorists” or “unpatriotic” will be effective if people see the accused, in response, nervously trying to deny the accusations, trying to run away from one’s own beliefs, defensively trying to comply with the demands of the accusers in order to make the accusations go away. By contrast, the accusations will be rendered worthless if the accused stands by one’s own principles and convictions and aggressively seeks out the debate, turning the accusations around on the accusers.

Joe Lieberman Helps Fear Mongering on FISA

This ad is currently running in Connecticut against freshman Congressman Chris Murphy:

The ad is being aired by an ultra right wing organization, Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Not shockingly, Joe Lieberman is one of their “distinguished advisors.” Jane Hamsher reports:

Republican attack ads pressuring House Democrats to capitulate on telecom immunity started running in Connecticut against Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney this week. They’re funded by an organization called the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and they’re exceptionally dishonest even by Republican standards.

Take a stroll over to the Advisory Board of FDD. Who’s on it? That’s right. Your good friend and mine, Joe Lieberman. He’s a “distinguished advisor” of an organization running attack ads in an election year against Democrats for supporting a core Democratic position in his own home state.

If the Democrats take the Senate by even so much as one more vote this year, the screeching to have this guy stripped of his seniority and kicked off his committee assignments is going to be deafening. I hope everybody knows that.

The FDD has some other Democratic (read: real Democratic) members on their Board. Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Eliot Engel have had their names removed in the last few days. Today, Democratic operative Donna Brazile did the same, issuing this statement:

 As a member of the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, I strongly condemn their misleading and reckless ad campaign. The organization is using fear mongering for political purposes and worse, their scare tactics have the effect of emboldening terrorists and our enemies abroad by asserting our intelligence agencies are failing to do their job. I am deeply disappointed they would use my name since no one has consulted me about the activities of the group in years.

When I first joined the foundation several years ago, it was a bi-partisan organization that was committed to defending democratic values and protecting the nation against threats posed by radical Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately, due to the influence of their funders, in the last few years, FDD has morphed into a radical right wing organization that is doing the dirty work for the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans. I have made it clear to the organization that these types of lies undercut our national security and serve only to divide us. Furthermore, I reiterated to FDD that I no longer wish to be affiliated with such a group and have asked them to remove my name from the Board. In this post 9/11 world, Americans should not be attacking other Americans, we should be standing together to make this country safer and stronger against the real threat of terrorism.

To my knowledge, Joe Lieberman has been silent on the attack ads being run against Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney. On paper, Joe Lieberman remains a member of the Democratic caucus in the Senate. Democrats from Connecticut are being savaged by an organization Lieberman advises. At best, Lieberman is sitting on his hands. But we all know “Short Ride” Joe is capable of much worse than sitting on his hands, so nothing would surprise me given how far this man has fallen from the levels of collegiality he so frequently clutches at when he perceives Democrats doing him wrong. I don’t expect Lieberman to step forward and try to stop these ads.

Here’s CT Bob’s remix of the ad, though:

They Drafted Scott Kleeb

Earlier today, Scott Kleeb announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Nebraska. Kleeb ran a hard-fought race in Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional district in 2006, one of the country’s most conservative CDs. Following a long draft campaign (located at DraftKleeb.com and on Facebook) and frequent rumors that he would enter the race, Kleeb decided to challenge Tony Raimondo for the Democratic nomination. Raimondo was a Republican until he realized he couldn’t beat former Bush administration Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns in the GOP primary and switched over to the Democratic side.

Dave Sund of New Nebraska Network broke the story of Kleeb’s entry into the race last night with the discovery of a relaunched campaign website. Ryan Anderson, also of NNN, followed that with an exclusive interview of Kleeb:

In a wide-ranging interview with NNN, Scott explained his decision to run and offered his thoughts on the battles still to come:

“What was successful about our campaign last time was that it wasn’t just about me, it was about getting people engaged again, getting people to take charge of their democracy.” When he saw the success of DraftKleeb and the continued netroots excitement around a potential campaign “it showed me that what we built last time was for real… if I was going to run, I needed to know that there would be enough shoulders for me to stand on.”

Scott also pointed to the success of Nebraska’s first presidential caucus as a factor in his decision: “What the presidential election did here in Nebraska was remarkable” he said, pointing out that caucus turnout in Nebraska exceeded that in Washington later that day, despite Washington being a more populous and Democratic state. “It was great to have presidential candidates come to Nebraska, to have them learn about Nebraska issues… and we responded in great numbers.”

Asked about his primary opponent Raimondo (who publicly explored a bid for the GOP nomination for months prior to changing parties): “I know Tony and I like Tony, but he will have to face a very fundamental question in this race, which is: ‘why do you think you can beat Mike Johanns as a Democrat when you didn’t think you could beat him as a Republican?‘”

Kleeb’s new campaign website can be viewed here: www.ScottKleeb.com.

One thing of note on Kleeb’s site – he doesn’t have a logo and he’s asking supporters to submit designs, to be voted on by supporters. Kleeb is clearly showing signs that he’s a people-powered candidate.
Another thing that is exciting about Kleeb’s announcement and interview with Ryan Anderson is his repeated recourse to the narratives of change and populist Democrat issues of trade, health care, and combating global warming. Here’s from Anderson’s interview:

“How we did it was by saying, look, we as a country are facing countless problems right now, be it the debt, loss of job, health care, education… and these problems require that we address them in a fundamentally new and different way. We can’t just keep sending the same people back to Washington and expect these issues to get solved.”

And here’s from Kleeb’s announcement on his website:

We confront tremendous challenges: skyrocketing debt and growing budget deficits; rising trade imbalances and falling wages; a global threat of extremism and division with a damaged reputation in the world; and –as if each of those was not enough– we also face the moral test of our lifetime in combating climate change and achieving true energy independence.

We are in this together. These are our challenges. And we must solve them together, as Nebraskans always have.

We can either demand more of ourselves and our leaders, or we can settle for more of the same. We can demand new ideas that uphold our finest and oldest traditions, or we can settle for the same failed old policies. We can stand up, together, and have a say about our future or we can put our future in the same old hands that got us where we are today.

Anyone else reading a bit of Barack Obama meets David Sirota in these words?

The race between Kleeb and Raimondo for the Democratic nomination is going to be a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. What will we stand for? Corporatist Republican-Lite politics that have never, ever succeeded? Or a people-powered movement that seeks to bring out the best in America to overcome our greatest challenges? I think Democrats of Nebraska will handily choose the latter over the former.

And the general election in Nebraska will likely look similar to the national election for the presidency. Obama vs McCain. Hopefully Kleeb vs Johanns. Change versus more of what we’ve been given the last eight years under Bush. Kleeb will provide an unmistakable alternative to Johanns. This is going to be a very exciting candidacy to watch.

You can donate to Kleeb’s campaign through ActBlue.

McCain Got on Other Ballots Through FEC Matching Funds

Yesterday I had a post on how John McCain used his federal matching funds authorization as a means to gain access to the Ohio ballot. This saved McCain massive amounts of time and money, as Ohio has a particularly complicated ballot access process.

The DNC filed their complaint with the FEC this morning (viewable here). In the complaint, the DNC cited three other examples of places where McCain also gained access to the ballot in Kentucky, Delaware, and Montana using the FEC authorization in lieu of campaign staff and cash resources.

DNC Filing on McCain ballot access

This is not an exhaustive list of states, as Ohio was not included. I look forward to seeing what, if any, other states beyond Ohio, Kentucky, Delaware, and Montana John McCain used his FEC matching funds authorization to gain ballot access.

Dodd on Presidential Politics

Newsday has an interview with Senator Chris Dodd on his opinions of presidential politics. On the Democrats:

Democratic voters are sending a clear message by giving Barack Obama 11 consecutive primary victories over rival Hillary Clinton, Sen. Christopher Dodd said Monday.

“It’s obviously getting to a point where people are speaking pretty loudly,” Dodd told reporters. “Eleven contests. My hope is that we’ll get closure on this pretty quickly.”

On Ralph Nader:

“It’s sort of a yawn,” Dodd said. “Eight years ago he cost Al Gore the election, no question about it. But I think people learned a very painful lesson.”

Not surprisingly, I agree with Dodd’s sentiments on both subjects (though I’d be willing to debate the full extent Nader deserves blame for Gore’s loss).