legal immunity

Nah - He's nothing like Bush

Except on issues that really matter to Americans, like warrantless wiretapping:

If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.

McCain's new tack towards the Bush administration's theory of executive power comes some 10 days after a McCain surrogate stated, incorrectly it seems, that the senator wanted hearings into telecom companies' cooperation with President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, before he'd support giving those companies retroactive legal immunity.

Screw the constitution and rule of law, the President trumps all that! That seems to be the mantra of the Republican Party anymore.

Was Rockefeller's Support Bought By The Telecoms?

This is a serious question that must be investigated:

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

The surge in contributions came from a Whoâ€™s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports.

The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio.

Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

In the wake of Duke Cunningham, any activity like this must come under heavy scrutiny. I don't care what party the person belongs to. The people of this country are sick and tired of politicians putting personal wealth above the people. Does 11% approval rating right a bell?

The Democrats need to act vigilantly on this. If there is any question of wrong doing, then Rockefeller needs to be stripped from all of his committees pending an outcome of an investigation. No excuses can be acceptable on this poor behavior.

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