The Republican wolf, full of hot air as always, has once again started to huff and puff in an attempt to blow down our Democratic House of Representatives.
A new ad smears vulnerable freshman Democrats in the House for their principled stand against the FISA legislation in its current form - the grossly misnamed (until amended) "Protect America Act," which includes no provisions to, well, protect Americans from the unjustified intrusions of government surveillance. It protects telecoms who broke the law, however, and Democrats in the House have so far been brave enough to stand against it. If you visit Dkos even occasionally, you'll have seen front page stories by mcjoan and others on the continuing debacle.
Read over the fold for more about how to help Russ Feingold, the Senator who along with Chris Dodd has been at the cutting edge of trying to amend the FISA bill, protect these Representatives from unjust attacks by a group that includes, among others, Joe Lieberman.
The ads are being run by a 501(c) group called "Defense of Democracies," an organization that counts Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, and Joe Lie-berman among its advisors. As mcjoan explained in her story on this, several democrats were counted as 'advisors' to the group until it decided to air this ad - all but (pseudodemocrats) Zell Miller and Lieberman have now resigned. DemfromCT also included the ad in his front page story from earlier today, and Wynter and Hillbilly Report have also written about the ads.
The ad makes the fundamentally false claim that the House's decision to actually debate the PAA rather than pass it in a rush and under pressure has caused a dangerous interruption in our security capacities. Uncertain whether it will induce laughter or nausea, I include the ad for your viewing pleas... well, so you know what I'm talking about.
Today, Russ Feingold is asking us to help him, via his Progessive Patriots Fund, support the House Dems who have come under attack for doing the right thing (text from his email):
Because these members of Congress refused to cave in to the Bush administration and immediately pass a flawed extension of the so-called "Protect America Act" – legislation that would weaken privacy protections for American citizens and provide retroactive immunity to telecom companies - they are now under attack and urgently need our help.
I'd like the Progressive Patriots Fund to raise $15,000 today to contribute $1,000 to each of the 15 members under attack as a show of our support. Now is the time to show those who distort the truth that the members of the Progressive Patriots Fund community will not stand by, but will instead stand strong in the face of these fear-mongering tactics.
A list of the targeted Dems (from mcjoan's writeup), among whom are many of the netroots candidates from '06:
These are the Dems who we know have been targeted: Tim Walz (MN); Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy (CT); Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes (NH); Jason Altmire (PA); Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney (FL); Gabrielle Giffords and Harry Mitchell (AZ); Jerry McNerney (CA); Melissa Bean (IL); Joe Donnelly (IN); Nancy Boyda (KS); Michael Arcuri and Kirsten Gillbrand (NY) ; Steve Kagen (WI).
It's important to fight back in this way not just to protect people like Jerry McNerney, who beat environmental scourge Richard Pombo in a closely fought race last year, but also to show your support for Feingold himself - every dollar we channel through him shows his colleagues (and opponents) in the Senate that we have his back. So if you can, show your support with a donation.
If you're short on cash at the moment (I feel your pain), you can also show your support for Feingold by signing this petition urging the Senate to pass the two defense bills brought to the floor for debate by his efforts. More than any other Senator in the past decade, Russ has stood up for progressive principles when it's been hardest to do so. Let's let him and these fifteen brave House Democrats know that we're listening.