Today Florida Senator Bill Nelson held a town hall meeting in Pasco County. I originally planned to attend the meeting on behalf of DFA Tampa Bay to present Sen. Nelson with letters from Floridians on healthcare. But when I returned home from YearlyKos last night and began catching up on the news, and reading the details of the FISA story, I decided I couldn't use my chance with Sen. Nelson to talk about healthcare, not this time. That will have to wait for another day.
Because I get nervous when I have to speak in public, I wrote out my comments and questions for the senator. As the meeting progressed, focused mostly on issues dealing with the state legislature and not things coming under the responsibilities of a U.S. Senator, I was afraid I wouldn't get my chance.
There's more...
Then Nelson decided that since no one else had brought up the Iraq War, he would tell us his take on it. Unfortunately for him, he began his explanation with a disclaimer about how he and the Congress had been lied to about the intelligence going into the war. Well that was it for me. I yelled out to him:
"Then why, when you know they can't be trusted, when you know they lie to you, did you vote for the FISA bill that gives the incompetent Bush administration more power to spy on American citizens?"
He immediately said that he would answer my question after he talked about the war. (His aide came running over to get me to fill out a form with my name and address and comments for the senator, and also gave me her card.)
At least twice more I interrupted him during his pathetic attempt at an explanation, once by saying:
"I can't believe you fell for it again. You just gave Alberto Gonzalez more power to spy on us."
He made a lame attempt to joke about no one trusting Alberto Gonzalez, but then went on to say that this is only a temporary bill, yada, yada, yada. He also said that he trusted Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to be honest with the Congress. (Didn't he trust Gen. Colin Powell once upon a time too?)
It was a very frustrating, but rewarding experience. I have long been disappointed in Bill Nelson. Today I got the chance to tell him how I felt.