All the Democrats running for President in 2008 from the Congress did the right thing on the Protect America Act. They voted against the law, which gives tremendous new powers to Alberto Gonzales and to Director of National Intelligence John Michael McConnell. The legislation, now signed into law, gives Gonzales and McConnell the ability to engage in massive electronic dragnets of American citizens’ activities on the web, sending email, talking on the phone, sending faxes, and engaging in other forms of private online communications.

In effect, the Protect America Act resurrects Total Information Awareness and puts Alberto Gonzales and John Michael McConnell in the position of Big Brother on the Internet.

Though all the Democratic presidential candidates from Congress voted against the Protect America Act, Chris Dodd is the first Democratic presidential candidate to use opposition to the Protect America Act as a campaign issue.

Yesterday, the Chris Dodd campaign sent out an email with the following message:

“Recently, both the House and Senate voted to expand FISA, providing President Bush greater authority to eavesdrop without a court order.

Everyone had the responsibility and opportunity to know what was in the bill. We all participated in meetings that day, and there was a lot of conversation about it. Before the vote, Senator Carl Levin did everything he could to make sure that everyone read the bill … it was not that long.

It should have never passed — and there is no good explanation for it doing so.”

Senator Dodd is linking his opposition to the Protect America Act with his effort to repeal the worst aspects of the Military Commissions Act. Dodd’s position amongst the Democrats thus becomes: The Democrat Most Committed to Defending the Constitution.