Their Fear of Appearing Weak, Makes Them Weak

Once again, reports of terrorist "chatter" that mysteriously disappear as soon as the President gets what he wants, and fears of appearing weak on security, combined to cause Democrats to surrender to the adminstration's last-minute demands that Congress give the President ever-widening powers of warrantless wiretapping before leaving for summer recess. As the Washington Post put it:

To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through both chambers...

The new law will allow the interception and recording of cell phone calls and emails of persons "reasonably believed to be outside the United States" without a court order or any judicial or congressional oversight. If that isn't a loophole big enough to explode a car bomb through ... Although the bill will be reconsidered in 6 months, Rep. Rush Holt said it best, "I'm not comfortable suspending the constitution even temporarily."

Democrats Voting YES

Bayh, Evan (IN) Carper, Thomas (DE) Casey, Robert (PA) Conrad, Kent (ND) Feinstein, Dianne (CA) Inouye, Daniel (HI) Klobuchar, Amy (MN) Landrieu, Mary (LA)

Lincoln, Blanche (AR) McCaskill, Claire (MO) Mikulski, Barbara (MD) Nelson, Bill (FL) Nelson, Benjamin (NE) Pryor, Mark (AR) Salazar, Ken (CO) Webb, Jim (VA)

Sign a petition telling Congress to stop being more afraid of Republicans than they are of destroying our Constitution.