Chris Dodd's stand against retroactive immunity has earned itself a spot on Wired Threat Level blog's year in review list of key stories of 2007.
The only senator to stand tall against telco immunity was Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd, whose threatened Mr. Smith-style filibuster forced fellow Dems this month to meekly slide their Get Out Of Jail Free card back into the Community Chest. That's good news for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, bad news for the 9th Circuit, which stays stuck at Bush administration's mad tea party with AT&T lawyers wearing the big hat.
Dodd's leadership against retroactive immunity was surely one of the most talked about stories online and offline this year. Why? Because at a crucial juncture where a huge swath of Bush administration law breaking and violations of American's civil liberties were about to be swept up under the rug, one man stood up and said "No." And sometimes, one person standing up can change the shape of the debate in our country. Now, retroactive immunity is no longer assured and if it ever does become reality, it will only be over the actions of Chris Dodd doing everything he can.
But for now, Dodd lead and it became an issue that permeated into the presidential campaign and throughout national discourse. It's something Americans know and care deeply about.
