After 2 months of tedious and completely ineffective articles attacking the temperament of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, today the Globe turns its front page focus to what it twice calls the President’s “domestic spying program”. The Globe editors apparently feel no higher calling than to act as enablers for the DNC. Like many Democratic Party activists, they are willing to suspend thought and simply repeat DNC talking points like “domestic spying program” without giving any ink to what the actual content of this program is.
Nowhere in today’s story does the Globe explain exactly what types of communication were allowed to be intercepted by the government as part of this “domestic spying program”. Why not? Because (I believe) the actual actions taken enjoy widespread public support, especially when the details are explained rather than just labeled with the bogeyman title of a “domestic spying program”.
Two months of moaning about Alitio was a waste of breath and ink that ended up doing the Democrats harm by making them look like fools or tools of special interests. This dog will not hunt either. By escalating the issue to this degree, the Democrats will again give evidence that they remain out of touch with the mainstream voters they lost in the last election.
A former Reagan administration DOJ official suggests a tactic:
Fein, a conservative who backs the president's judicial nominations, said Bush should ask Congress to pass a law authorizing the spying program.Exactly! The congressional leadership put Rep. Murtha’s exact proposal for withdrawal from Iraq up to a quick vote (it received 1 vote). They should do exactly the same in this case. Let the cockroaches stand and vote on the issue rather than posture and weave on the Sunday vanity-talk TV shows. Any Dem who wants to be President will surely vote for it. I doubt that we will see Hillary bashing Bush for “domestic spying”.
Article comments
1 - gonzo marx
ummm...the Congress can take a shot, but it will still need to come up for Judicial Review...if nothing else to ensure Constitutionality under various articles in the Bill of Rights (4th and 5th Amendments, at least)
so, you can hold on to the partisan drool fest for a bit yet
and the original Poster might want to actually read the FISA law and then ponder the implications for bypassing it before spouting off
i'm pretty certain Rove has, as well as many of the paleocons who are rightfully horrified at the possible implications
not to mention those kooky Libertarian types...
but i digress...
Excelsior!
2 - Harry Forbes
Thanks for the comment.
I'm no attorney, but "Judicial Review" in the larger sense takes place when parties challenge acts of the legislature in the courts. This issues offers an opportunity for the Congress to further clarify what powers it intended to grant to the Executive, as well as for Congress to put on the record the stands taken by members on the issue.
Despite the outrage (which I believe is mostly feigned), serious Democratic presidential candidates don't seem to be calling for the elimination of this program.
h