"Doddmania" (h/t Atrios) explodes

well, well, well... whaddaya know... evidently there are a lot of other folks besides moi who have been holding out for a presidential candidate who will step forward and speak out on the constitutional crisis...

from karen tumulty at time's swampland...

Senator Dodd's campaign communications director Hari Sevugan tells me that $150,000 in small contributions have poured into Dodd's campaign in the past 24 hours, since his announcement that he will put a hold on--and may even filibuster--a foreign intelligence surveillance bill approved yesterday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Dodd objects to a provision that would grant immunity to the telecommunications companies that turned over their customers' phone and e-mail records to the government's warrantless surveillance program. The companies have been hit with 40 pending lawsuits charging them with privacy violation.

Dodd has raised more small-dollar contributions in the last 24 hours than he did in the previous month. Sevugan also says the number of visits to his website is up tenfold, as is the number of people registering their e-mail addresses there.

earlier, i wrote tim tagaris at the dodd campaign that i thought the senator was definitely on the right track, but that i would continue to hold out to see if the good senator is truly going to walk his talk... i've jumped at too many flashes in the pan over the past nearly seven years to start singing the hallelujah chorus quite yet...

(thanks to atrios...)

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Jokeline

btd at talkleft can't resist going after joe klein's "blathering..."

Joe Klein just asks for it. Now he blathers on the Scooter Libby sentence:

I have a different feeling about Libby. His "perjury" . . .[why in quotes joe? He was convicted of 2 counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice] would never be considered significant enough to reach trial, much less sentencing, much less time in stir if he weren't Dick Cheney's hatchet man.

Joe Klein's basis for this statement? Why nothing but his own imagination. Lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice are considered serious crimes by every prosecutor I know.

the more i follow people like joe klein, the more i realize that - like broder, novak, and friedman - his brand of so-called journalism is particularly insidious... he's polished, he's articulate, and he's well-placed at a major national news outlet that reinforces his ability to make pronouncements about the national scene... these people are an integral part of keeping the population in thrall and fit chomsky's description of the elites in this country and their masters perfectly...

the boundaries of klein's world - power and privilege - are identical to those of his masters, and he knows full well that taking a divergent or more thoughtful view would jeopardize his status in that world... it's not unlike what i've seen happen to so many people as they rise up the corporate ladder... at one point in their lives, they were ordinary human beings, but, in learning to blend in and play the system, they eventually became detached from their moorings without necessarily being conscious that it's even happened... and, if they are conscious of it, they will smother you in perfectly logical reasons why... but it's a very human response... why would anyone who had worked so hard for their success, repudiate the very system that bestowed it on him...?

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Halliburton's move (cont'd)

(Karen Tumulty posting on Time's Swampland blog...)

Is this about tax breaks? Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.

[...]

UPDATE: Henry Waxman is already planning to hold a hearing on this, an aide tells me.

like i said earlier...

there are implications here that i'm not sure i can make sense out of, but, my guess is, they're HUGE...

(thanks to think progress...)

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