Olbermann Special Comment: Obama's Second Chance On FISA

In a "Special Comment" on Countdown WIth Keith Olbermann tonight, the MSNBC host told his audience that Barack Obama has been presented with a second chance to make a first impression in an upcoming vote on the FISA bill:

And he damned well better take it. The Senate vote on this tortured and reckless piece of legislation has now been postponed until after the 4th of July break. The Democrats, completing their FISA experience, a collective impression of Homer Simpson falling off a cliff and hitting every bramble on the way down, didn't exactly plan this fortuitous delay.

Watch the entire Special Comment below:

Comments

[TLV]

Hot damn! Keith Olbermann for Secretary of State!

[veracity]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi bringing the Telecom Surveillance / Retroactive Immunity bill to the floor was a legislative atrocity that illustrates that she is in the pocket of the Neo-Con war lobby... if her support for the Iraq and (pending) Iran wars didn't already illustrate the Speaker's treacherous duplicity.

All of which puts Senator Obama in a tough spot, FORCING him to either bow down to the war-lobby (national surveillance state), or give Right-Wing reactionaries in the Deep South (and elsewhere) the single, solid issue that they really need to hate him for.

FOR SHAME, Speaker Pelosi!

Proving that yet again, craven corporatist Democrats have the knack for snatching Defeat from the jaws of victory.

[TLV]

"if her support for the Iraq and (pending) Iran wars didn't already illustrate the Speaker's treacherous duplicity.­"

I listened to the live Congressional hearings on the Iraq war. Pelosi was very outspoken AGAINST it from the outset. Now if you mean support for the troops in Iraq and Afghanista­n..... then she naturally has to support them. Don't you?

[HopeandChange]

Is MSNBC a news network or just a cheerleading section for Obama?

[AtomiClash]

They have news... Olbermann is a cheerleader (a wry, frank, and funny one). And I love him. If you don't care for it, tune him out.

[ThunderclapNewman]

It's a news network.

You're so used to FoxNoise that you can't recognize the real thing when you see it.

[tyrdofwaitin]

Thank you, Keith, for pressing forward with love. I can't imagine what it's like to be in Obama's shoes right now, but I can imagine it's none too comfortable.

What we progressives can do, like any other constituency of Obama's, is to push-on for justice and principle with love. I think that's what Keith accomplished last evening; the facts and reality are the same, it's the politics that have changed.

Let's continue to be a voice of sanity and justice: When Obama veers, everyone listens and responds..­.with love. Lasting revolutions are built with patience and love and honesty.

[Praedor]

Still not good enough. First of all, the Democraps have already made abundantly clear that they don't do "rule of law", they do "sweep under the rug and forget". They do NOT do justice, they do whatever it takes to amass more power to themselves, more money to themselves, in whatever manner means the least effort on their part.

Second of all, it doesn't matter if Bush "admits" illegal conduct on his part and everyone else's part in this mess by pardoning everyone and everything upon his exit. HE DOESN'T CARE! In addition to that, it is irrelevant because the Democraps wouldn't do anything anyway (see above). He would get a twofer out of pardoning the telecoms (and everyone else) under the bogus rubrick of "patriotic service (to fascism)". He would get his telecoms COMPLETELY out of hot water. They would already be safe from civil liability and he would save them, absolutely, from criminal liability as well. There is nothing to lose here (for him)!

Third, Obama wouldn't do anything anyway. He LIKES the FISA abortion because he WANTS the unconstitutional power to spy on ALL American private communications without warrant. What better way to defeat political foes, preempt constitutional speech/protest, and enrich himself by taking advantage of economic information/stock information, etc, from such conversations? Obama is a Republican just like all Democraps are Republicans: they ONLY care about themselves and, most of all, their PERSONAL pocketbooks.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Your entire comment is untrue---and you know it.

[TLV]

Eating worms again?

[PATina]

While I disagree that O wants FISA for his own dark purpose... I agree w/ the rest of what you've said. If the dems wouldn't put impeachment on the table... why would anyone believe they'd go after Bush once he's out of office. They won't. He and his cronies will get there free pass and go one to write bestsellers and hold high priced speaking engagements.

[cyndeewi]

Praedor, You are so stupid!

[Gma11]

Thanks, KO. You are my "news" hero. Yours is the ONLY news show I watch. Unless Obama or Clark is going to be on another and I know ahead of time. I fully enjoyed your show last night. I am so grateful for your truthtelling. And your courage.

[SickoPoliticos]

Strange special comment, in that last week he was praising Obama's 'courage' of going against the group which has supported him so strongly. In other words, Obama flip-flopped and LIED when he said he would boycott the bill if telecom immunity was included. It isn't about, strictly and only, telecom immunity but the Bill of Rights is involved.

Secondly, Keith lashed out something fierce at the Supreme Court decision which allows a person to defend himself within his own home rather than become a victim.

Yep, Keith may have lost it somewhere along the way...

[JackND]

Yeah, I couldn't believe it last week when He had Antonin Scalia as a worse person ("the" worst that day, as I recall) simply for defending the Second Amendment.

Would defending the First Amendment land someone there? I think not.

Like Lou Dobbs, I agree with Keith on much (and disagree on some), but also like Lou Dobbs, he's become much too full of himself.

[cyndeewi]

SickoPoliticos, looks like you have lost it to me.

[MasterPierpont]

voting yes on FISA is an act of terrorism.

[eden4barack08]

We've had a terrorist Commander in Chief for 8 years now??OMG!!

[harriscrl3]

Huffpost NEED to make a decision if they are going to keep bashing Obama and bringing out all the closet conservatives who are jumping on the opportunity to convince us that Obama's candidacy is over of if they are going TO MOVE ON to other stories. Stop beating a dead horse its Over. You are just bringing out Obama haters who are pretending that they were lovers in the past. Acting like they sympathize with you when in fact they are patronizing you. You would think Liberals woudl wise up to this BS by now.

Carol

[Titonwan]

If that doesn't sound like a Telco lobbyist, nothing does. Your hysterical.

[aubrey8]

sounds like the real problem is people like Carol believing their own BS.

[LeaveArtieAlone]

No one can convince me of anything unless I wish to be guided; which I don’t and will not be. BO said he would not be perfect and that he would make mistakes and this is a big test. His decision on this is paramount, however, in the end it is either BO or JM, that doesn’t give him a free ride as he will know how unhappy I am via email on this and any other issue I deem worthy of my praise or condemnation.

I do believe that in some respects BO is having to pay for Bush’s sins. By that I mean, he is pressured to undo a lot of what Bush has done over these years and he isn’t even elected yet. I have no intention of giving him a free pass, however, I am saying that some things can only be changed WHEN (fingers crossed) he is elected.

[Biracial1]

I see the folks over at Daily Kos got to you Keith.

[harriscrl3]

YEp they got to him. I lost all respect for him. I always thought he had very strong opinions and stuck to it.. Oh well another one bites the dust.

Carol

[neetsie37]

I care less and less what Keith Olbermann says. He was my hero until he dissed Hillary on his show ad nauseum ....... I always gave him credit for being fair, but lately Bill O'Reilly is starting to look good.

[Titonwan]

If either of you bothered to read, instead of blindly following, you'd know the deep impact and detriment this FISA law would be. So much for an intelligent electorate.

[greginwva]

It was the only news commentary type show my wife and I could stand. Its back to the NY Times and other print after last nights Special Comment.Th­at Olberman thinks he's qualified to instruct Barack Obama on politics or the law is stunning! Obama is getting a lot of lectures these days from people I thought wanted him to win the White House.Obam­a just out smarted the Clinton machine because he understood the rules of the game and used all 50 states to win.Now he has to beat McCain in some of those states that Hillary forgot about.He still knows the rules and is confounding the GOP by doing the unexpected by not cuddling up w/the far left and getting tagged as a man who doesnt want to fight the terrorists and wants to take their guns away.

[heather11483]

Yeah, they did. I don't know what happened; he wrote a rebuttal to all the criticism he's been getting from the Kos, and posted at the Kos. And then turns around and does this.

[Sarahjan]

I like Keith Olbermann's passion for all things left and his un shakable support for Senator Obama. iHe represents the tradition of Jewish progressive left!! I am not saying that Keith Olbermann is Karl Marx or anything like that but I like his guts a lot! His program is the only one from MSNBC that I watch everynight

[Binea]

part-2 Ron Paul’s Statement on HR 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments
June 25th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
by Ron Paul
20 June 2008


..Our Founding Fathers recognized this, including in Article I section 9 of the Constitution that “No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.” How is this FISA bill not a variation of ex post facto? That alone should give pause to supporters of this measure.

Mr. Speaker, we should understand that decimating the protections that our Constitution provides us against the government is far more dangerous to the future of this country than whatever external threats may exist. We can protect this country without violating the Constitution and I urge my colleagues to reconsider their support for this measure.

C'mon Obama..you­r turn

[Titonwan]

Indeed. It will be the deal breaker if you don't heed good advice.

[Moarku]

I'm not a lawyer, so explain this to me. Does that basically mean that even if the law is passed, the Supreme Court could (and since that reads so cut-and-dry, should) strike it down?

[gwhizz]

That's exactly what the supreme court's job is. It was part of that old fashioned "checks and balances" thing, yaknow.

[Binea]

Ron Paul’s Statement on HR 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments
June 25th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
by Ron Paul
20 June 2008

Madam Speaker, I regret that due to the unexpected last-minute appearance of this measure on the legislative calendar this week, a prior commitment has prevented me from voting on the FISA amendments. I have strongly opposed every previous FISA overhaul attempt and I certainly would have voted against this one as well.

The main reason I oppose this latest version is that it still clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by allowing the federal government to engage in the bulk collection of American citizens’ communications without a search warrant. That US citizens can have their private communication intercepted by the government without a search warrant is anti-American, deeply disturbing, and completely unacceptable.

In addition to gutting the fourth amendment, this measure will deprive Americans who have had their rights violated by telecommunication companies involved in the Administration’s illegal wiretapping program the right to seek redress in the courts for the wrongs committed against them. Worse, this measure provides for retroactive immunity, whereby individuals or organizations that broke the law as it existed are granted immunity for prior illegal actions once the law has been changed. Ex post facto laws have long been considered anathema in free societies under rule of law.

Part -1

[bernj]

I am disappointed. I have supported Obama from the beginning. During his convention speech in 2004, I remember telling my wife that we were watching the first president of African descent. Until lately, I have been very impressed by his campaign and promise of hope and change. Unfortunately, because of this recent rather curious, and unnecessary, move toward the right, I am becoming increasingly concerned about his willingness to really fight for the change he promises. I will certainly vote for Obama but I want to be able to do so with enthusiasm and pride. I think he is getting some rather stupid advice from some faction within the campaign as evidenced by the FISA issue and the failure to support General Clark's very true statements.

I support you Barack but brother you need to grow some....fa­st.

[scooperss]

CHICAGO - Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support their ability to hire and fire based on faith.

[cyndeewi]

I agree bernj. This guys is taking some wrong advice!

[Phaedrus21]

Obama is going to be sworn into office with a laundry list of legislation he wants passed. I just can't see him throwing that all away just so that the left can have the satisfaction of seeing Bush/Cheney in court.

Let's get a grip. What Bush/Cheney did with domestic spying was an impeachable offense. But compared to what is going on in the rest of the world it's fairly minor issue. The North Pole is melting. People are dying in an unnecessary war. The economy is falling apart.

Obama not only has to get elected, he has to have enough support in Congress to pass legislation aimed at fixing these problems. A Bush/Cheney criminal trial will go on for years. It will overshadow every everything else and polarize the country.

It's galling to have Bush/Cheney retire and live happily ever after. But it's better than spending the next four years in partisan gridlock and having Obama finish his first term with nothing accomplished.

Bush is going to be punished by history. Within his lifetime it's going to be generally acknowledged that he was the worst President ever. For someone with the daddy-issues that George W has, that's going to be crushing.

And maybe if we're lucky, someone will offer him a pretzel.

[Conservativeslayer]

Spoken like a true "democrat", are you in Congress? Your sentiments are the same reasons given by the congressional leadership on why impeachment was "off the table". It was more important to get the legislative goals passed, then hold Bush accountable. Now it's more important to get Obama's legislation passed, then hold Bush and company accountable. That's where you are wrong because if America is to remain a rule of law nation, we must hold Bush accountable for the crimes he committed. There is nothing more important then that.

[Lemeritus]

Very nicely said indeed, Conservativeslayer!

The Rule of Law is the foundation of EVERYTHING else. If we cannot grasp the importance of this simple tenet, nothing else will stand. It isn't just simple to understand, it's easy to explain.

[Titonwan]

Democrats are the left. Next.