Why would Bush be so concerned about Telecom immunity?

[Canuckistanian]

Couldn't he just pardon any Telecoms that were found guilty?

Seems to me that it would be a lot less time consuming than twisting arms in the House and Senate.

It'll be interesting to see whether Reid can successfully strip the immunity portion out of the FISA bill and see which bill the GOP fights hardest to save.

[wryter2000]

1. Randi asked John Dean that today

He seemed to think it would make him look bad. But, if he can get Congress to do it, it takes the responsibility from him.

Personally, I think he wants to dismiss the cases because the telecoms would reveal all kinds of information Bush doesn't want out in order to defend themselves.

[BeFree]

2. Why?

Because if they get hauled to the dock they'll spill the beans on bushco.

Bushco asked them to break the law for him. They did. Bushco got caught. If the telcoms have to they'll rat him out.

[EFerrari]

4. Exactly. Telco Immunity is BushCo immunity. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

9. Makes sense to me.

I hope they can SEPARATE these two issues.

Maybe we can see what they're REALLY worried about - "modernizing" FISA or covering Bush's ass.

[EFerrari]

13. I just read in another thread that 94 Democrats who switched their vote

for FISA got a little over $8K from a telco PAC. Cheap dates, I think.

[Canuckistanian]

19. $8k???

Man, that price would embarass even Jeff Gannon.

:wow:

[EFerrari]

20. Here's the thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3366625

[choie]

14. Bingo

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. There are telecommunications companies under the KBR, Bechtel, etc. umbrellas

and he has his fingers in our very exchanges. He needs to shelter himself as completely as possible as he tries to form yet another monopoly for BushCo.

"The Company Store."

[Canuckistanian]

11. KBR and Bechtel have an interest in this?

I thought it was just the "majors" like AT&T and Verizon.

Do the KBR and Bechtel subs actually do the wiretaps?

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. "Do the KBR and Bechtel subs actually do the wiretaps?"

I don't know- I just remember that at least one telecommunication company was listed in IIRC Fahrenheit 9/11, as being part of that collective, which Bush appears to want to no-bid into supremacy, The Company Store..

I'm not finding anything in a quick search. I'm going to pull out Fahrenheit 9/11 and see if it's in there...

http://www.kbr.com/careers/about_kbr/business_units_at_a_glance.aspx

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Because if the telecoms get sued

they will be subjected to the legal process called discovery. This means they'd have to disclose who ordered them to do the eavesdropping, when they did it and to whom they did it. Lots of stuff would come out that the Bushies don't want the public to know about. It's not to protect the telecoms, it's to protect themselves.

[Canuckistanian]

8. Well, that sure kills the "gotta listen to the terraists" line, doesn't it?

Stripping out the immunity provision seems to be the best way to sort out the liars from the "concerned".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Oh, hell, yes.

This was never about protecting America from The Terr'ists (since Bush threatened to veto any bill that didn't include immunity, so obviously the eavesdropping part can't have been all that immediately crucial), and it wasn't about protecting the phone companies from litigation, although I'm sure they were lobbying for it. It's always been about covering Bush's ugly ass.

[Supersedeas]

18. disclosure -- like pulling back the curtain and exposing Oz

[midnight]

6. Sen. Feingold says that he is concerned about why they are

collecting the information off of his blackberry to his daugher in a foreign country, or conversations between Americans and those in Foreign countries. He believes that this is a cover up.

[whistle]

7. Hide his criminal acts

[SergeyDovlatov]

15. 'cause it is harder to coerce them into spying if they don't have immunity n/t

[EFerrari]

16. No. The old FISA law provided for that already. n/t

[TahitiNut]

17. Presidential pardon power applies to federal criminal offenses, not civil suits and not state.

AFAIK