The Constitution betrayed again

I don't see any benign interpretation I could put on the Democrats' capitulation on telecom immunity, which the House passed overwhelmingly, 293-129.

This is one of the most blatant acts of class "justice" that I've ever seen. If you're poor, young and black and get busted holding crack, you wind up in prison. If you're a wealthy telecom executive and agree to commit crimes at the request of the Republican President, you get patted on the back and called patriotic.

These companies (AT&T and Verizon, especially) had batteries of lawyers and an army of lobbyists that they could have used to resist the White House pressure. Instead, they broke the law and then used their lobbying clout to get themselves off. This will now become a precedent for the massive list of blanket pardons that are surely being anxiously assembled throughout the administration and the armed forces.

The Republicans are more to blame for this travesty against the Constitution and the law and the American people. But the Democrats blocked this before and they could have and should have done it this time.

And what kind of leadership has Obama shown on this? None that I can see.

Tags: authoritarianism

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