Caving--It's What the Democrats Are Good For

The Prez has thwarted the reality-based community once again with another dispiriting victory out of pretty much nothing. There's no reason to explain it beyond the Democrats apparently cowering in fear.

You may recall that the Bush administration has been accused of illegally wiretapping various communication without a warrant. In an opportune development for the Bushies, they now will be able to legally listen in to various communications. It's not too much of a mystery how this came about. Pretty much it just boils down to Bush insisted, and the Democrats caved. You can read here about the Senate's ignominy on Friday night, and here about the House following suit on Saturday.

Just in case anybody needs a primer in the situation, we've got a president with historically low poll numbers demanding that Congress approve an unpopular program. Oh, so if we put it that way, the whole situation is so much more understandable. Can someone remind me why it's a good thing to remain part of the reality-based community?

To add insult to injury, TPMmuckraker reported on Friday that the House had reached a compromise with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell on a bill that wasn't as draconian as the one we're ending up with, but the Prez refused to honor McConnell's agreement. Apparently, he and his staff accurately determined that the Democrats hadn't yet been played extensively enough. There was room to squeeze more out of the Democrats, so the Bushies had little choice but to squeeze accordingly.

What is there to do if our elected representatives don't have the determination to stand up to an unpopular, lame duck president? How do you strengthen a party that continually decides that the wisest course of action is to roll over and play dead? That's not a rhetorical question, by the way. My fear is that the only realistic answer is "nothing," but if anybody has any more positive suggestions, I'm all ears.