Hypocritical Democrats Want More Eavesdropping Powers

Forget about pandering to the kook fringe nutroots base and their masters at the ACLU, it's all about appearances for the Democrats. Since they obviously are pathetically weak on national security and fighting terrorism, they need to pretend to be tough. So there goes another principle out the window.

Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping

WASHINGTON, July 31 -- Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government?s electronic wiretapping powers.

Democratic leaders have expressed a new willingness to work with the White House to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on some purely foreign telephone calls and e-mail. Such a step now requires court approval.

Of course, they're all for domestic eavesdropping when they're in power. Just ask Newt Gingrich and John Boehner about that.

Of course, now that they're scrambling to appear tough, Mr. 19%, Dingy Harry, is seeking comity and bipartisanship.

“We hope our Republican counterparts will work together with us to fix the problem, rather than try again to gain partisan political advantage at the expense of our national security,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a statement Monday night.

Naturally, the terrorist supporters at the ACLU won't stand for any of it.

Some civil liberties groups oppose the proposed changes, expressing concern that there might be far-reaching consequences.

“Congress needs to take its time before it implements another piece of antiterrorism legislation it will regret, like the Patriot Act,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Bush administration clearly has abused the FISA powers it already has and clearly wants to go back to the good old days of warrantless wiretapping and domestic spying. Congress must stop this bill in its tracks.”

Sorry, not going to happen.

As a sidenote, the paper of record ought to do a better job proofreading, as they misspell the name of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales three times.