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GOP, Dems drawing up a truce on NSA program
After mounting a lackluster effort recently to oppose now Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee looked to have their mojo back early last week when they peppered imperturbable Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the legality of the administration's warrantless domestic spying program.But by week's end, their spirited attack on the formerly secret effort that authorizes the National Security Agency to intercept international phone calls and E-mails originating in the United States already seemed a distant memory. Even a top Democratic Senate staffer acknowledged that the party isn't looking for a political win on the issue--a wash, he said, will do. What happened? Simply put, the White House used its bully pulpit to turn a complicated legal issue into an us-against-them, war on terrorism issue. Vice President Dick Cheney was confident enough to encourage candidates to tout the surveillance program as an example of the GOP's stand on battling terrorists. His comments came a day after President Bush announced new details about an unrealized 2002 al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked plane into a Los Angeles skyscraper, though he provided no evidence that the NSA program helped avert the attack. Newly conscious of their soft-on-terrorism troubles with voters, the Democrats got the point. But the president made his own concessions by reversing field and allowing Gonzales and Gen. Michael Hayden, deputy director of national intelligence and former NSA director, to privately brief the Senate and House intelligence committees. Reaction was mixed on the briefings' value, but the new cooperation and a brokered agreement last week to reauthorize with minor changes the Patriot Act's more controversial surveillance provisions--averting a Democratic filibuster like the one that stalled renewal in December--ended Bush's week on an up note on this issue. Though the NSA issue may be a political nonstarter for Democrats (polling finds consistent public support for antiterrorism surveillance), it certainly is not dead. Lawmakers from both parties, alarmed at the administration's efforts to consolidate executive power, have called for oversight of the operation. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Judiciary Committee chair, is writing a bill that would allow an existing secret court to review every 45 days the surveillance conducted under the program and plans at least two more hearings on its legality. The drumbeat for accountability continues, just more quietly and with a bipartisan tone. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-12 |
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