Yesterday's FISA vote removes Walz from "Bush Dog" list

Reading around the netroots, we see that Chris Bowers at Open Left has moved Tim Walz off the "Bush Dogs" list because of his "no" vote yesterday against giving retroactive immunity to telecoms.   

We don't believe that Walz's  change of heart on FISA--which began last year with his votes for the RESTORE Act in November--is a consequence of being put on a list with a vile-sounding name by the netroots.

Instead, Walz was schooled, sometimes harshly though justly, by people in his district, and he responded accordingly.  Walz kept the promise about reactive immunity that he made at his  Iraq Town Hall meetings last fall, at the Rochester caucus last February, and at dozens of other encounters across the district. We hope this experience will encourage First district voters to continue to let Tim Walz know what's on their minds.

And perhaps volunteer or chip in some coin to his re-election.

Update: Recovering Republican Ron Amundson gets it in Way cool on Tim Walz on voting against HR6304.

He concludes:

It's a risk he is taking, yet it is also a risk he must take to uphold his office, irrespective of the consequences. Thats a whole lot of courage he has to take such a stand, and I applaud him for it. I also know, should this come back on him during election time, he won’t back down, and likely any mud thrown, is going to come back at the thrower in a huge way, if not from Tim, by a bunch of us supporters who will not stand for those who throw the constitution under the bus for expediencies sake.

Amundson, who heads a product development company, hadn't updated his blog since March; he resumed a couple of days ago with a truly original post about the nuclear power industry from the perspective of someone who has actually worked with engineers in this century. A great read at McCain Sees Need for More Nuclear Power - WSJ.com.

Also back from long silence was the Minnesota First blog, who once once more aroused by the spectre of a  bad FISA bill.  Fortunately, Apollo was pleased by Walz's vote, though disappointed with the outcome overall.

The Rochester Democrat also praises Walz.

On the other hand, Ron Carey, chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, is seething--and very confused as well. Chairman Carey seems to have forgotten the special interests that paid real money to run those fearmongering ads that got severely ripped by Factcheck.org in  Fear and False Claims.  Special interests opposed Walz's position--and spent thousands to trash him. The citizens in the First were appalled by the ads. Wow, Mr. Carey needs to get a firmer grip. Really. [end update]

Comments

[Grace Kelly]

Way wonderful, we all are very happy. Minnesota is lucky to have such a great representative.