After pointing out that even the security hawk Fred Hiatt thinks the new FISA law is over the top, Glenn Greenwald has this to say:
While the premise of this behavior is that Democrats must avoid appearing "soft" and "weak," one article after the next describes their behavior as "surrendering," "capitulating," "bowing to pressure," "caving in" and "suffering defeat" — all at the hands of a weakened, isolated and pervasively despised lame duck President whose political party is in shambles. The worst thing one can be in American politics and American culture generally is a loser, and Democrats perpetually turn themselves into losers and convince themselves when doing so that they are appearing "strong" and "tough."
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. It is exactly what they have done on every virtually major issue over the last six years — from Iraq to the Military Commissions Act to the Alito nomination to the whole slew of still-secret surveillance programs that they meekly allow to remain undisclosed, even to them.
It’s absolutely nauseating. Conservatives are right to hold the Democrats in contempt. They live up to their negative stereotyping perfectly. It’s becoming clearer that any hopes that 2006 election was a turning point are dashed, and if there is to be one this congress incapable of effecting it.
And I take back any good thing I’ve ever said about Jim Webb, who was
one of the 16 Dems who voted Yea on this bill. Hopes here are dashed as well that he
would emerge as a common-sense leader who would use his conservative
credentials to aggressively reframe security issues rather than simply to accept the GOP framing. What happened to that guy? He caved to GOP framing on the war funding bill some weeks back. He accepted the GOP framing of rejecting the President’s demands then as voting against the troops, and apparently the GOP framing last week that voting against warrantless wiretapping is a vote against America’s security. I hope he and the other sixteen get some serious, serious heat for for their votes. In our state evem the creepy Cantwell voted No, but where was Patty Murray? She was a no-show. Not that it would have mattered, but I want to know where she stands.
See also this post, The Cavin’ Craven Dems’ Meta-Message.
Update: Here’s Russ Feingold’s assessment of this Congressional weekend of shame.
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