I posted this in a comment and Night Owl asked me to put it in a diary. Here goes.
there were certainly a lot of blackberries and expensive suits. I was one of the few not wearing a jacket (I don't have one that fits).
When the cmte broke for lunch, to decide net neutrality upon return, I went up to my Senator, George Allen, and told him to vote for the Snowe/Dorgan amendment or risk further firing up the netroots against him in his campaign. He said, "that's just how it is sometimes," or something to that effect.
After lunch, Snowe was the first to speak in favor of Net Neutrality. She gave an excellent summary, hammering home the point that a Net Neutrality law is the preservation of the current operational basis of the internet and without this amendment there would be great change.
Stevens spoke next, as Stoller said he was all over the map. He quoted a magazine article intermittently, then claimed that the current internet was a 2-tier system in that it did not discriminate between individual users and e-business like NetFlix (nevermind the fact that they pay different costs for bandwidth). He was completely irrational, but yelled and shouted and threw his hands up dramatically to actually make himself sound credible.
That's when it was Dorgan's turn, who did say something like what he was quoted in Stoller's piece as saying. Dorgan talked about some of Snowe's points, then got out the visual aids (oh, yeah, baby!). He showed statements given by telecom executives to shareholders that detailed exactly the kind of abuses they planned to enact without net neutrality (your fears are justified), then he used another aid to show the kind of deceptive advertising that was being shown on TV.
This is where I (and my notes) get fuzzy on the order of speakers, so I'll eschew any pretensions to chronology.
DeMint blathered something incoherent about Google not being neutral towards its searches, and that somehow having something to do with net neutrality. I think he was talking about the paid ads and the system by which they rank results, but in terms of the debate it made no sense.
Smith was the absolute worst. He spoke for 3 minutes, and when it was over I felt as though I had lost brain cells. He said something about being a farmer, which he then said had nothing to do with Net Neutrality and was somehow supposed to absolve him from responsibility for being knowledgeable about the issue. He regurgitated a few more of the telecoms' catchphrases and then returned to merciful silentce.
Kerry kicked some ass, calling out both Stevens and Ensign for previous statements. He didn't offer much in the way of an original presentation, however, since Snowe and Dorgan had done such a thurough job.
Sununu broke in at one point to call some Democrat 'technically misleading' and then said nothing more on the topic. Of all the Republicans, I think he's the most disappointing because he obviously has an excellent grasp of the technical and legal implications of each and every part of this bill. He knew exactly what he was voting for when he voted down Net Neutrality.
Boxer was good, but not memorable, as was Cantwell. Snowe and Dorgan each spoke more than once, as I believe Kerry did also, to make and defend points.
Ensign was the slickest, best-coached of all the Republicans. He attempted to equate an amendment he had introduced with Net Neutrality, and actually held his ground against Dorgan's argument for a few minutes before Dorgan got out the visual aid of the TV ad and asked Ensign if 'nondiscrimination' was in his amendment (it wasn't).
A few common Repub talking points:
The current system is 2-Tier (Brain cells)
If it ain't broke don't fix it (so counterintuitive)
Problem looking for a solution (Please no more brain cells)
Unenforcable (FCC enforced it until last year)
Undefinable (FCC defined it last year)
A 'Compromise' that favors the telcos (a la Ensign)
Brand X Supreme Court case as precedent for anti-NN <-- likely to be fleshed out and reused
i didn't see lobbyists passing talking points to staff, but I wasn't in a position to see that. It was definitely more intense than the rest of the hearing, every ear and every eye was focused on each speaker, whereas in the rest of the session people (including me, at times) were staring off into space of fiddling with their blackberries.
Allen looked uncomfortable to me, and I'd like to think very much that it was because he saw me in the front row tallying his vote. I honestly hissed involuntarily when he voted 'no', and had to take a minute to compose myself. Allen refused to speak, or even look up, for most of the Net Neutrality debate.
the telecom lobbyists behind me expected Inouye to vote with Stevens (apparently they're buddies), so please give him a special call and thank him for not giving the Republicans the political cover of having the ranking Democrat, much less any Democrat, vote with them.
I was disappointed greatly and laughed sarcastically as they congratulated each other for months of work. (It was in the interest of collegiality, most likely, but I couldn't withstand the impression that I was one of the few sane people in the room.)
As I walked out, a skinny white guy with a black crew cut and an expensive tie, not much older than I am, jumped in front of me and clapped a hand on the shoulder of another $2000 suit. He exclaimed: "Put that one in the W column!"
i apologize for the lack of editing and such, but i'm trying to watch the daily show.
