That Damned Fisa Vote

In case you don't know President Bush required Congress to sign off on his warrentless wiretap program before going on vacation; Congress did so, with the support of many Democrats. The bill was drafted and presented so quickly, that our representatives had little time to look at it. Apparently this is a good thing because, according to some "moderate" Democrats it proves we are tough. Glenn Greenwald takes that argument apart.

In the mind of the moderate Democratic Beltway centrist consultant, that is how Democrats look Strong -- by "bowing to pressure" exerted by one of the weakest and most disliked presidents in modern history. There is nothing like being described as "bowing" and "capitulating" to give an appearance of strength.

Damn straight.

He also explains how the Democrats in Congress let down those who voted for them and failed to honor this nation. It wasn't on Friday when that damned vote was taken. No their failure was long before that.

What makes this all the more appalling is that it was so easily avoidable. All Democrats had to do was offer legislation to fix the only real gap in FISA and then demand that the President sign it or risk a Terrorist attack. They could have gone on the offensive ahead of time by crafting the legislation and then made it their own cause to demand that the President sign it immediately in order to fix this problem and protect us from the Terrorists.

But they did none of that. They waited around, as always, with no aim and no strategy and no principle and no belief and allowed the President to dictate their behavior and control the debate.

Yep. Congressional Democrats have failed us. Again.