House Democrats irresponsible on intercepts

Washington Times:

House Democrats yesterday refused to revisit an update of the nation's domestic wiretapping rules before they expire tomorrow at midnight, causing Republicans to storm out of the chamber in protest.

The dispute has led both Democratic and Republican leaders to accuse one another of playing political games with national security.

Republicans said it was a "disgrace" that Democrats decided to call a vote on contempt charges against White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers in the 2006 firings of U.S. attorneys instead of addressing the surveillance measure.

"We have space on the calendar today for a politically charged fishing expedition, but no space for a bill that would protect the American people from terrorists who want to kill us," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

But House Democrats, who control the chamber, say they would rather let the surveillance law lapse without replacement legislation than rush through a bill at the last minute on such an important issue.

...

Funny how the last seven months have not provided the time to do their job and they think it is the last minute now after a one month extension. What is really going on here is that Democrats have sold out to the trial lawyers who want to hold up the telecoms carriers for cooperating with the government in the hunt for terrorist. They can't show that one person has been damaged by that cooperation but they can make the litigation cost of defending themselves so painful that the companies would refuse to cooperate in the future.

To put the trial lawyers and their bogus claims ahead of national security is shameful. Even without the special interest aspects it is just idiotic to leave in place a ridiculous system that puts all of us at risk because it makes it too difficult to intercept enemy communications with its agents. Republicans should be running ads against Democrats responsible for this travesty.

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