It's like the election never happened last November. It's as if President Bush had approval ratings in the fifties, or even sixties. It's as if Tom DeLay was still in charge, Denny Hastert was still Speaker, Bill Frist was still Majority Leader. President Bush actually "demanded" greater domestic spying authority - and the Democrats gave it to him!
I can imagine all kinds of excuses and justifications for it. What I can't imagine are reasons. I can't imagine listening to a Democratic Senator or Congress member explain to me why they decided to support the expansion of power of the Executive at a time when Congress was actually supposed to be reigning in an out-of-control Executive. I am just gobsmacked by it all.
I have been trying to digest this very weird, very out-of-synch event and I just can't. Were the Democrats afraid the Republicans would call them wimpy, terrorist-loving surrender monkeys who want them fighting over here because they're too scared to fight them over there? Were they afraid Dick Cheney would come on television and tell them he has intelligence information that a member of al Qaeda met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague before September 11, 2001, and if only the Executive had the powers granted in this bill that event might never have happened? The only saving grace in all of this is I fear very little the abuse of power by the Bush Administration because they have shown themselves singularly inept at just about everything they do, from No Child Left Behind to fiscal policy to the war and occupation in Iraq. Let them tap my phone; all they'll hear are my wife talking to members of the congregation and me asking when she is coming home and what would she like for supper. I'm sure they'll spin that in to code for the next dirty bomb plot - it's like Monty Python took over national security with these people.
To be honest, I think I reflect a lot of what I've been reading and hearing over the past couple days when I say I feel betrayed. Let down. I don't want to have to wait until next year's election to fix this mess, but I'm not sure what to do about it right now.
Virtual Tin Cup
