The Questions I Wish We Were Asked

Tuesday night's Democratic Presidential debate in Philadelphia included some of the most serious discussions of Iraq, Iran, and global warming that we've had thus far during the campaign season. I was happy to get the opportunity to speak clearly and directly to why I believe I've offered the boldest, most honest assessments on all three of these critical issues.

But they aren't the only areas where the stakes are high and there are clear differences among the candidates. And so, today I want to talk about a few things we weren't asked by the moderators Tuesday night at Drexel University.

For me, it starts with our Constitution. In November of 2006, the American people overwhelmingly elected Democrats with a mandate to change course. Much attention was focused on Iraq, but make no mistake - Americans were also signaling that they wanted Congress to rein in the abuses to the Constitution under the Bush administration and the Republican Congress. Over the last few weeks, we've seen issues pertaining to the rule of law come up time and again.

Retroactive immunity. Waterboarding. The qualifications and judgment of Judge Michael Mukasey. Data mining. Warrantless wiretaps. The list, sadly, goes on...

At no point Tuesday night was I or any of my fellow candidates asked about their opinions these issues -- some of the most important the next President will face. Not once. So I want to take this opportunity now to talk about these issues.

1. Less than two weeks ago, Senator Dodd, you announced you would filibuster any FISA legislation that included retroactive immunity. Why are you opposed to amnesty?

Quite simply: you can't defend America if you don't defend the Constitution.

The Bush administration came to the telecom companies, some even before 9/11, and asked them to eavesdrop on Americans. They didn't produce court orders or warrants to justify their surveillance. And the telecoms went along with it.

These companies have some of the best legal counsel money can buy. They know the law through and through. And they broke it anyway. That is inexcusable and I'm not about to let Congress step in and stop lawsuits against them for violating the privacy of ordinary Americans.

2. Do you think waterboarding is torture?

Absolutely, according to both US law and international conventions. And in my view, the Bush Administration knows full well it is.

3. You were the first Democratic Senator to announce your opposition to Michael Mukasey's nomination. Why do you think he isn't qualified to be Attorney General?

A lot has been made of Judge Mukasey's troubling stance on waterboarding and torture more broadly. While I think those are critically important questions, his beliefs on executive power are in many ways far more important. The attorney general must be a reliable defender of the rule of law.

But Mr. Mukasey seems to share the exact same ideology as other members of the Bush administration. He thinks the President has the authority to ignore the rule in the name of national security. Mr. Mukasey doesn't seem to understand the oath we take: we don't swear to support and defend the Constitution OR protect the country. We defend the Constitution TO protect the country.

For that reason alone, he should be disqualified to serve as the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the United States government. For me, he is. And I would hope the rest of my opponents--Republican or Democrat--would agree. Because it's time we elect a President who understands that while America's strength may come from our military and wealth - its greatness comes from our faith in the values expressed in our Constitution.

Learn more about my campaign at ChrisDodd.com

Follow Sen. Chris Dodd on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenChrisDodd

Comments

[MinuteMan]

How can you be so heartless, Senator? If the Senate does not confirm Mukasey, the Shrub will hold his breath until his face turns blue. The ensuing oxygen deprivation might damage his brain and cause him to start doing stupid things!

[jdm58]

Senator Dodd,

Interest in you as a candidate peaked recently when you vocally opposed granting amnesty to telecommunications, and Mukasey as AG. As an undecided voter, I was inspired by your actions. However, Tuesday's debate left me baffled. You said you opposed providing drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Yet in the previous debate, you stated that your proposed health plan would cover illegals. Why am I, as a citizen driver, not protected from unlicensed, uninsured, illegals driving on the road, who then are provided healthcare at my expense? This is a HUGE flip/flop on policy in my view, and has brought you down several notches as a candidate. I hope you clarify your position in some future post, otherwise, I'm passing on you.

[JustDavid]

Well said, Senator. But I want to strongly caution you on referring to America as a wealthy country as in "while Americas strength may come from its military and wealth -".
I am convinced that the reason Gore didn't win by a landslide like he should have is the oft repeated Democratic assertion that they had brought us a time of "unprecedented prosperity". I doubt you have any idea how that grates on the nerves of the majority of Americans who are either unemployed, under-employed, or working multiple jobs. When you are losing your home, watching loved ones die for lack of medical care,....Who the hell are they talking to? I didn't see a blip of prosperity. Didn't know anyone who did, either.
While the insanities of the Republicans are life and death issues they should take a backseat to the economy.
We are already living off our grandchildrens credit card. If the economy fails this time America will be gone. This is the issue that will determine the next election.

[Greensleeves]

For a more in depth look at the toxic brew nominee Mukasey swims in with candidate Rudy G and former police commissioner and likely future felon Bernard Kerik-read investigative reporter Wayne Barrett's piec in the current Village Voice. Mukasey is Giuliani's Alberto G.Giuliani is a poor man's Bush on steroids.The same delusional brand of corporate elite globalization politics. Another New Yorker without illusions about delusions.

[campaignman]

I don't think you should presume that electing a pro-democratic government in Pakistan is de-stabilizing. In fact, we backed a dictator in Iran and it led to the current day situation.

I agree though that we have a confused policy on dealing with terrorists. Bush deals with terrorists in Iraq but not in Gaza. He has found no alternative in Iraq because he was losing and had no choice.

Obama is willing to talk to anyone. Bush is only willing to talk to his friends, of whom there are fewer and fewer.

Should we talk to terrorists? Does that encourage them to kill more people because they are being taken seriously or can they be bought off? If they can, would it be a temporary appeasement or could it lead to a lasting change? Moreover, are all terrorists the same?

We need a nuanced but not naive foreign policy. The GOP is not interested in campaigning or governing in such a way. Democrats are.

Of course, nuance has always been hard to sell in a campaign and, as a result, Democrats are consistently distrusted by the electorate in that arena.

The question for all of us is which Democrat has the strength to run and win without being forced into taking the GOP approach.

For my money, that candidate is not the chameleon Clinton, it is the bold Biden!

Check out Joe at www.joebiden.com.

[Ragtimer]

Well, Senator,

Thank you for your efforts to protect our Constitution. Now just to play devils advocate.....

If H2Oboarding it isn't torture should we expect the police to us it in domestic problems here at home to get information, to get AT THE TRUTH?

And if it is legal Why shouldn't we use it on Bush and Cheney to get the truth out of those bastards?

The problem with how Demo's. deal with the Repub's. spin machine is that they should use the same "back spin on the ball". Meaning by using their same stupid arguments or deceptive information tactics back on them, just changing the names we could see they wouldn't agree.

Such as: Well if water-boarding is a legitimate procedure I expect we can allow, without reprimand, the enemy to us it on us, is that right?

And with in the same context being that the US has accepted the new "democratic" Iraqi government use cruel and unusual punishment, such as "death by hanging" that should use the same methods too?

I believe you see the irony. But why can't you and the rest of congress use the same approach in qualifying Mukasy and Bush and Cheney and Rummy in their views?
Then there will be no argument as to knowing where they really stand and what their intentions are.
But it will clarify to the Americans what kind of government we have! That is instead of this wishy-washy empty hearings that lead to "same-ol'-same-ol", with nothing getting accomplished.

It would also confirm who the congress and senators are in the acceptances of such concerns, and others.

[boldtimer]

I have to ask Sen. Dodd the same question that Matt Damon's character asked Jon Voight's character in the movie, The Rainmaker, Do you even remember when you gave a shit ?. I'm not singling out Sen. Dodd to blame for all the current ills of the Democrat Party and, more broadly, our entire political system, but he is typical of a group of career politicians that appear to be motivated more by career growth and payback to supporters than by public service.

Actually the movie, The Rainmaker, is a perfect analogy to use considering that 1 out of every 3 members of Congress currently have a law degree. Even one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, warned us not to let Attorneys take control of our political process. By all rights, the membership of Congress should at least vaguely ressemble the makeup of the typical community in America today, is every third house on your street owned by an attorney? Probably so if it's rental property !

There's been several efforts over the years to enact term limits in Congress but they have failed, did those groups really think members of Congress where going to vote to end their own free ride ? The full force of the Washington PR Machine and Main Stream Media was brought to bare resulting in the cause being characterized as a mere whim of a few malcontents.

This effort needs to be re-initiated with the full support of all citizens and carried through to completion if we ever expect to break up this two-party Duopoly that continues to ignore the will of the American People.

[usapatriot1973]

Bush's abuse of the Constitution won't stop until he is impeached for being the most un-American president in our history. Cheney should be impeached simultaneously for his traitorous acts as well. Then they both should be hanged until they are dead.

[bigbear]

Right On Chris!!! So let's have a couple of TRIALS Art.1 Sec.8 and Impeachment.

[josieb]

Enjoyed your book, Letters from Nuremberg, very much. Descriptions of the post-war conditions in European countries were particularly interesting, and how lucky your mother and you children were to have such a loving husband and father. I hope we do come up with some form of socialized medicine. I think my doctor's great (a specialist), but the insurance companies are out-of-control tyrants, who think they can dictate treatment and they do. It's terrible to put off going to the hospital if you're sick because of worries about the stay and the cost of treatment. That shouldn't happen. Best of luck in your campaign; I agree as you've said that many people aren't paying attention yet, but I think they will as the primaries get closer. Also: don't confirm Mukasey!

[ljsfolly]

If the Congress and throw in the chimp and cheney were to be given a high school test on the constitution how many would fail it? If the same group was given a middle school test on the same how many would fail it? It has come to be that the very people who know what it really says doesn't work very high up in government or if they do their voice is put off as someone too radical to be heard. Sad.

[gardenbookie]

Thanks, Senator Dodd, for putting your words IN WRITING! Now put your words into action. Tell Nancy to sit down and be quiet, that's what she does best. Pack up Mrs. Clinton and send her back to Arkansas. Call out the cavalry, round up the crook from Texas along with his bandit buddies. Find a tall oak tree and.......hang 'em high! Get us out of Iraq, steer us clear of Iran, find out the TRUTH about 9/11, get our jobs back on U.S. soil, take some REAL help to the victims of Katrina, slam the doors on our portals, demand that our automobile manufacturers get a non-petroleum burning vehicle out the doors and onto our streets. And put our Constitution back together again.

[Bondaroid]

Maybe we should ask Dodd about his own involvement with the Clinton spying program.
In 2000 during an interview with 60 Minutes Mike Frost, Clinton's Echelon expert Mike Frost talked about the spying program. He noted,"If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there's a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country's largest intelligence agency. The top-secret Global Surveillance Network is called Echelon, and it's run by the National Security Agency." NSA computers, "capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world." Echelon expert Mike Frost, who spent 20 years as a spy for the Canadian equivalent of the National Security Agency, told "60 Minutes" that the agency was monitoring "everything from data transfers to cell phones to portable phones to baby monitors to ATMs." Now tell me what is the difference between Bush monitoring calls from Terrorist to Clinton monitoring everyones activity?

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Chris Dodd for Senate Majority Leader! We need some backbone in Congress also, Senator!

[princessofnowt]

Chris-
I'm a Mike Gravel supporter, and haven't been a fan of yours.

But your actions are now speaking louder than others words.

I'm listening. Stick to your principles and GO with the action that is needed. Don't hedge your bets, listen to the people and keep going.

We're hearin ya.

And tell us you are for the National Initiative for Democracy ( www.NI4D.us ). That will help all candidates who stand up for truth like, it would seem, yourself.