Spy Lies (A Continuing Saga)

Last August, when Congress passed a FISA-gutting bill (which basically rubberstamped the President's warrantless wiretapping), Democratic leaders reassured everyone that it was a temporary move before the summer recess and that they would fix it all in the Fall. Well, it's Fall. So where do we stand?

Democrats introduced the Responsible Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective act (aka- RESTORE... they can do dumb acronyms too!). This was actually a fairly decent bill meant to correct the previous bill's extremes. Could such a bill pass? We may never find out, because...

...House Republicans added a ridiculous amendment meant to scuttle the bill for the time being. It worked. Democrats have pulled the bill. So it's back in a state of legislative limbo.

Republicans once again played the 'terror' card, insisting that no matter what Democrats did it was a gift to the terrorists. This ploy would be less annoying if it weren't so effective in cowing our dear majority party.

For instance, when Democrats introduced this bill, Republicans dismissed it as a dangerous obstacle. They milked the story of 3 soldiers captured in Iraq, blaming "onerous surveillance laws" with slowing rescue efforts. So they expressed happiness when the bill was pulled, right? Nope! Rep. Cantor, a high-ranking congressional Republican, said "House Democrats have pulled the FISA bill. They are so desperately against allowing our intelligence agencies to fight OBL and AQ, that they pulled the entire bill to prevent a vote."

The Charlie Brown party fell for it again. Arrrrgggggghhhhh!



Meanwhile, over in the Senate, this is happening: "Telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on domestic phone and computer lines between 2001 and 2007 without court orders can escape civil lawsuits if the government certifies they acted with the president's authorization, under a draft Senate bill." That great champion of democracy worldwide, George W. Bush, says he will veto any bill that doesn't have this provision. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Kudos to Senator Dodd, though, who is fighting hard to put a hold on this bill.

Salon's Tim Grieve echoes many people's frustration on all of this-

"The Democrats who were handed majorities in both houses of Congress in November still haven't accomplished much of anything the voters sent them there to do. Bring the troops home? There are more of them in Iraq now than there were in November. Curtail the Bush administration's spying powers? It has more power now than it did in November. And yet, we'll bet dollars to doughnuts that, come next fall, we'll be hearing all over again about how the Democrats undercut the troops, deny the good guys the right to listen in on al-Qaida and generally hate America.

In the meantime, we'll hear Democrats complain again today about Republican obstructionism, about how the Democrats don't have enough votes to override vetoes and overcome nonexistent filibusters. But the Republicans can't make the Democrats vote for funding to pay for the war. They can't make the Democrats vote for legislation to give the Bush administration more spying powers. If congressional Democrats don't want to vote for such things, they shouldn't vote for them. And if they do, they should stop pretending that they're some kind of meaningful alternative to the Republicans they replaced last year."

There are, and have been, many benefits to a Democratic congress. This isn't one of them.