FISA: Democratic Cowards, P. 3

I noted yesterday how Democrats are rolling over and playing dead on the new FISA legislation before both the House and Senate. They are helping the Bush Administration continue to gut the Constitution... and I simply can't figure out why. Their core base doesn't want them to do it. Moreover, if they would simply frame their case for the public as it should be, I don't think that the public at large would oppose what the more liberal wing of the Democratic party wants incorporated into the bills. Unfortunately, we have -- basically uniformly -- cowards running Congress. To wit, Rep. John Conyers, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, had the following to say about the RESTORE bill at its mark-up hearing, answering both the left and the right:

To those who would claim that this bill is weak on terrorism, I would say that protecting the civil rights and liberties of Americans does not show our weakness, but our strength. What the terrorists fear most is our constitution and our values, and that is what this bill protects.

To those who say that the bill is too weak on civil liberties, I say that if you trust an independent court and have faith in congressional oversight, those liberties will not be jeopardized. That is the premise our democracy was founded on, and that is exactly what this bill does.

The thing of it is that he is right on both counts in the main. We need to protect our Constitution or America simply isn't worth defending. Moreover, Congressional oversight is a big part of that defense, or at least it should be. Unfortunately, it isn't at this time, and having Rep. Conyers simply say that it is doesn't magically make it so. And as a side note, the terrorists -- by and large I think -- don't think of America in Constitutional terms. It makes for a good sound bite, but truly, they have other issues that are far more about them than about us.

10 October 2007