Please tell me this isn't true - Dems are going to cave on wiretapping?

[SillyGoose]

The Fight That Wasn't
Both sides call a quiet truce on electronic eavesdropping
By Liz Halloran

2/20/06

After mounting a lackluster effort recently to oppose now Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee looked to have their mojo back early last week when they peppered imperturbable Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the legality of the administration's warrantless domestic spying program.

But by week's end, their spirited attack on the formerly secret effort that authorizes the National Security Agency to intercept international phone calls and E-mails originating in the United States already seemed a distant memory. Even a top Democratic Senate staffer acknowledged that the party isn't looking for a political win on the issue--a wash, he said, will do.

Deflated. What happened? Simply put, the White House used its bully pulpit to turn a complicated legal issue into an us-against-them, war on terrorism issue. Vice President Dick Cheney was confident enough to encourage candidates to tout the surveillance program as an example of the GOP's stand on battling terrorists. His comments came a day after President Bush announced new details about an unrealized 2002 al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked plane into a Los Angeles skyscraper, though he provided no evidence that the NSA program helped avert the attack. Newly conscious of their soft-on-terrorism troubles with voters, the Democrats got the point.

...

Though the NSA issue may be a political nonstarter for Democrats (polling finds consistent public support for antiterrorism surveillance), it certainly is not dead. Lawmakers from both parties, alarmed at the administration's efforts to consolidate executive power, have called for oversight of the operation. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Judiciary Committee chair, is writing a bill that would allow an existing secret court to review every 45 days the surveillance conducted under the program and plans at least two more hearings on its legality. The drumbeat for accountability continues, just more quietly and with a bipartisan tone.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060220/20spy.htm

[spanone]

1. Wishful Thinking.

[slor]

2. They had FUCKING BETTER NOT!

I swear, by golly, those polls are bullshit! We need to organize a phone campaign.

[Disturbed]

5. The maority of Dems cave in, as usual.

The Bush Regime wiretapping was and is a violation of the FISA Law. Bush and all those involved should be prosecuted. Instead of holding all accountable the Regime will be allowed to keep wiretapping sans warrents because the majority of Dems are too afraid to oppose the Regime. Why? Maybe because they suspect that they have been personally wiretapped and have things to hide?

[Ilsa]

10. God. No wonder fence-sitting voters vote for the rethugs.

They perceive the Dems as weak and spineless and not standing for anything. They only stand for something if it's easy.

[seriousstan]

7. The phone campaign worked soooo well for the Alito hearing.

They know they have our votes. They have ignored the black and the gays for years because they know they have their votes and now it is our turn. What are we going to do about it? Nothing.

[MichiganVote]

3. The entire congress will cave. Useless bunch of know nothing cowards

[ewagner]

4. Giving up on this issue

would be a huge mistake...

capitulation will only embolden the Repubs...

they'll use it against us in 06 and obliterate any signs of the Republican scandals with this "with us or against us" theme.

Fight back dammit..

there is no such thing as compromise with these people.....

Jim Hightower has it right: "The only thing you'll find in the middle of the road is YELLOW STRIPES and dead ARMADILLOS!"

[AX10]

6. I agree.

[Rob H.]

8. "imperturbable"?

Uh, hey, US News & World Report, you misspelled "shameless liar." Just thought you'd like to know.

[Warpy]

9. They've caved on everything else, thanks to GOPs in Dem drag

like Bayh, Nelson, Nelson, Lieberman, Feinstein, and others too nauseating to mention.

Why the hell do you think people get away with saying both parties are exactly the same?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

11. I doubt this is going away that easily. For one thing, it is being

discussed on radio other than AAR now, with references to a "totalitarian state."

Dictatorship.

Etc.

Garrison Keillor had a hilarious bit tonight. He's talking to someone about what color to select for some decor.

Guess who says, "Uh, excuse me, hehehe...."

And goes on to suggest a color.

It's the hilarious * imitation they do on APHC.