I just received an e-mail from Sen. Webb in response to a message I sent to him urging him to vote against the FISA bill which unfortunately passed. You may read it below the fold.
I have not changed my opinion about the bill - I believe it was a mistake, and it will eventually have to be revisited in order to protect the liberties of American citizens.
However, it is obvious to me the e-mail I received was not boilerplate language from a staffer. Sen. Webb may have sent the same letter to all the people who urged him to vote against the FISA bill, but he actually spent time crafting the letter -and it is very thoughtful and principled.
I don't agree with his vote, but he did put a lot of thought into his decision, and he did make several attempts to change the bill that eventually passed. That's more than Senator Warner did.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm glad Senator Webb is my senator, and I'm glad he won't be Barack Obama's VP. (He may end up as SecDef, but that's another diary.) With Mark Warner's election, Jim Webb will be the senior Senator from the Commonwealth ... and I hope he stays there for many many years.
July 14, 2008
Dear Mr. Sharp:
Thank you for contacting my office regarding legislation designed to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) (H.R.6304). I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns with me.
As you know, this legislation would amend current law by expanding the intelligence community's authority to collect foreign intelligence through electronic means. Having served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy and as Assistant Secretary of Defense, I relied on decades of experience in dealing with national security matters and classified intelligence when I voted - along with a bipartisan coalition of 68 other senators - in favor of final passage of this bill on July 9, 2008. Before this vote, I also met with a wide variety of people who were both supportive of, and opposed to, the legislation.
During the Senate's FISA debates in February and in July, I supported a number of amendments that were designed to improve the constitutional protections of our citizens. For example, in February, Senators Russell Feingold, Jon Tester, and I introduced an amendment that would have added additional checks and balances with respect to assessing the appropriate use of surveillance. Unfortunately, this amendment did not pass the full Senate.
Regarding retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies that participated in the National Security Agency's (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program, I do not support full immunity for companies who aided Government surveillance. I prefer a middle-ground solution that would allow court cases to proceed under appropriate circumstances. For example, during the July FISA debate, I supported an amendment offered by Senator Arlen Specter, which would have permitted cases to move forward if the court found that the Administration's surveillance program was unconstitutional. Similarly, I supported an amendment offered by Senator Jeff Bingaman, which would have required an independent investigation of the Administration's surveillance program before telecommunication companies could be granted immunity. Although these amendments failed, the legislation requires some court oversight in pending civil cases and does not foreclose future criminal cases.
Thank you once again for sharing your specific views on the important issue of electronic surveillance. As the Senate continues to debate policies related to surveillance and fulfills its oversight duties, please be assured that my staff and I will keep your thoughts in mind.
I would also invite you to visit my website at www.webb.senate.gov for regular updates about my activities and positions on matters that are important to Virginia and our nation.
Sincerely,
Jim Webb
United States Senator
JW:kw
I myself couldn't remember what I wrote to you in our e-mail exchange two years ago, so I went back and looked (God bless Gmail).
I have always been impressed with Jim Webb. Back then I said, "Webb is an admirable guy with a great biography."
I was not impressed with some of Webb's supporters, especially some of the louder bloggers (whatever happened to Info_Tech_Guy?). Though I voted for Miller and Waldo Jaquith voted for Webb, Waldo describes me pretty well when Lowell interviewed him for his new book:
Webb's grassroots support, before the campaign really got its legs under it, did itself no favors with its strident attacks on both Harris Miller and his supporters. Some prominent supporters of Webb exhibited shameful behavior in their efforts to discredit Miller. Rather than persuade Miller supporters to switch to Webb, this nonsense only hardened their positions. Some influential Democrats never really got behind Webb because they were still angry about the primary, and because they had the sense that the inmates were running the asylum.
I think Webb could be a better campaigner ... he doesn't really take to the trail. But I've got a young kid too and I don't like being away from home either. So I empathize.
Any doubts I might have had about Webb's performance in the Senate are long gone.
Not sure what happened to Info_Tech_Guy, but I suspect he's still actively working against the H-1B visa program. He didn't live in Virginia. In 2006, the Virginia blogosphere was the site of a major offensive in a guerilla war against the H-1B. Not sure where their current offensive is.
I can certainly see why Info_Tech_Guy's sometimes brutal tactics bothered some folks, but I have to say, I admired how he implemented his PR campaign. Very precise. Very intentional. He stayed on message and kept attacking through the end. He never got flustered, and he did what he set out to do. It wasn't pretty, but his goal wasn't to defeat a Democratic opponent. It was to take out an enemy (that's the way he and others in his organization looked at it) and to get as much attention as possible to the H-1B situation along the way. He was very effective. He wasn't concerned about the healing after the primary.
Everything that happened in the Webb v. Miller race on the blogs was interesting in my opinion. Except for the ridiculous picture of Harris Miller with wet pants. That wasn't interesting. It was embarassing to Webb supporters. If Webb saw it, I'm sure he hated it too.
Anyway, Webb's a great Senator, and I'm glad we're in complete agreement on that :-)
And, by the way, don't we have some great statewide candidates this cycle? Obama and Warner. Wow...