History Repeats Itself

I certainly didn't want to write again about the Senate surveillance bill, but this is getting ridiculous. We're coming up to a climax again, and it's playing out exactly like it has in the past. As we discussed last night, the surveillance reauthorization bill--if passed by the Senate at all--will barely have time for a conference with the House to iron out differences. Harry Reid, always the optimist, apparently, is calling for another extension of the current law so the House-Senate conference does not need to be rushed. The Republicans agreed to do that once, but when they did so, they made it clear that they wouldn't do it again. In trying to replay the same scene, Reid comes off as a hapless sucker. The Right calls for bipartisanship, but it's been clear for some time that in their terminology, bipartisanship means that the Democrats will climb the fence that divides them from their rivals and come to whatever spot where the Republicans are making their stand so that the Republicans don't even have to shift their weight. If they have to budge, they're not going to agree. I know that. You know that. How come everybody knows that but Harry Reid? That disconnect between Reid and the voters is probably behind Congress's 22 percent favorable rating in the latest AP-IPSOS survey. That's eight points below the Prez's own 30 percent favorability, which only makes sense because the whole point of the Democratic Congress was to elect the Democratic Congress to keep the executive branch at bay. If Congress actually stood up to the Prez, there's no telling how much their favorabilty would rise. But no, the Democrats seem unable to do anything but give this lame-duck precisely what he asks for.

If the Republicans refuse to grant an extension, Reid should allow the surveillance law to lapse. Sure, then the Prez and the Republicans will yell bloody murder that all surveillance will cease and that the Democrats are inviting terrorists into the country, but not that many people are paying attention to them these days (did I mention Bush's 30-percent approval rating?). In reality, we'll just default back to the original FISA legislation--the one in place while the U.S. won the Cold War. It's not realistic to ever expect bullies to stop bullying as long as their tactics give them everything that they want.