The Democrats don't care about the Constitution either

When our own side is perfectly willing to turn this into a police state, what hope do we have?

Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.

Although willing to oppose the White House on the Iraq war, they remain nervous that they will be called soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on gathering intelligence.

A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the type of broad, blanket authority for N.S.A. eavesdropping that the administration secured in August for six months.

In an acknowledgment of concerns over civil liberties, the bill would require a more active role by the special foreign intelligence court that oversees the interception of foreign-based communications by the security agency.

A competing proposal in the Senate, still being drafted, may be even closer in line with the administration plan, with the possibility of including retroactive immunity for telecommunications utilities that participated in the once-secret program to eavesdrop without court warrants.

No one is willing to predict with certainty how the question will play out. Some Congressional officials and others monitoring the debate said the final result might not be much different from the result in August, despite the Democrats’ insistence that they would not let stand the extension of the powers.

Stop being so fucking scared, dammit! You have the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution on your side! Or doesn't that matter anymore?

I for one am sick of this. Every time the Democrats in the Senate and House cave on an issue like this, they reaffirm the stereotype that they are simply not tough enough to deal with the realities of today's world. That stereotype is based on an erroneous impression of a supposed lack of toughness in dealing with terrorism, but when they refuse to fight on any issue EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO -- just because they're "afraid of being called soft on terrorism."

By whom? Rush Limbaugh? Ann Coulter? Tim Russert? Senate Republicans? Do these people not have mouths? Are they so stupid that they cannot articulate why giving the government broad, sweeping power to eavesdrop on every aspect of our lives is completely inconsistent with what this country was founded to be?

There are a few possibilities here: One is that the Administration has already used its broad eavesdropping power to gather dirt on every Democrat in Congress -- and is prepared to use it if they don't fall in line. Another is that they're afraid the next bogus intelligence about a planned attack on the Capitol won't be bogus -- or will be allowed to play out -- in which case they owe it to us to tell us. The third and most horrific possibility is that the Democrats also want to give the president unlimited eavesdropping power. And if that's the case, then why should we reward a party that's marching towards fascism as quickly as the Republicans are?