Unwarranted betrayal (Alany Times Union editorial)

[struggle4progress]

~snip~ Think of it. Here was a Democrat-controlled Congress that vowed to hold the White House accountable for its attempts to trample on the Fourth Amendment. And now it has done just the opposite. The danger can't be overstated. President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have never hidden their disdain for the niceties of the law, nor have they ever shown any compunction about using the powers of their office to go after political opponents. And now they have the power to invade Americans' privacy with impunity. There will be no checks and balances, no reports to Congress, no accountability. The potential for abuse is frightening.

As expected, the Bush administration put pressure on Congress in two ways: First, by warning that U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring increased chatter among terrorist suspects, and second by invoking the old, and discredited, argument that changing technologies had made it impossible for government agents to obtain an individual warrant from the secret FISA court every time they wanted to track a terror suspect. But FISA guidelines allow the government to proceed with spying when time is of the essence, provided agents obtain a warrant retroactively. Expanding the time frame for such retroactive warrants would have addressed the administration's concerns about timeliness.

Regrettably, the Democrats abandoned their own alternative plan that would have made surveillance decisions subject to later court review, while requiring public audits by the Justice Department's inspector general on the number of Americans who were monitored by the government. That would have provided an essential layer of accountability.

To date, the White House has never given hard numbers on its surveillance program, let alone specific cases that resulted in the arrest of terror suspects. All the American public has is the administration's word for it that the monitoring program is vital to homeland security. But this administration has long lost its credibility. Its word is simply not good enough. ~snip~

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=612240&category=OPINION&newsdate=8/7/2007

[depakid]

1. If the Dems don't think that the majority of voters are disappointed

with the behavior of many of their members (which reflects poorly on the WHOLE party) my guess is that they have a big surprise in store for 2008.

There's a reason why Nader's "not a dimes worth of difference" assertion rang true to so many people in 2000- and if things continue as they have been, we should expect to hear a lot of that next year, too.

I've been hearing it- in all sorts of quarters.

Seems to me that it's in the best interests of many state and local Dems to get theses types out of the party- or at least, off off TV

[regnaD kciN]

3. I wish the Congressional Dems would notice...

...that, every time they cave to Bush, their approval rating goes down (to a point which makes Chimpy himself look like a pop star).

I'm sure there are some in Congress who write us off as merely disgruntled progressives who, when it all comes down to voting, will have no choice but to climb on board the Democratic bandwagon. But they should recall that, while the chances that those disgusted by cave after cave would voice their objections by voting for Republicans is slim indeed, it is far more likely that a significant number of progressives could react by either staying home from the polls in November 2008 or casting a protest vote for a third party candidate. We already saw what even a 2% defection to Nader brought about in 2000; there's no reason to think that a similar effect might not come from said 2% simply deciding to stay at home next time around. And that might not only be enough to sway a close Presidential contest, but also a tight congressional election further on down the ticket.

[Mythsaje]

2. My God

What is this, the 20th such editorial we've seen in the past couple days? This is not insignificant.