I don't even care if I do have to thank the NY Times. This is beautiful.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001488.html?sub=AR

Quote :

"4 GOP Senators Hold Firm Against Patriot Act Renewal More Safeguards Needed, They Say By Charles Babington Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A04 Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) could barely conceal his anger. "The Patriot Act expires on December 31, but the terrorist threat does not," he told reporters at the Capitol yesterday. "Those on the Senate floor who are filibustering the Patriot Act are killing the Patriot Act." There was just one problem. Well, four problems, actually. Four of the 46 senators using the delaying tactic to thwart the USA Patriot Act renewal are members of Frist's party. It is a pesky, irritating fact for Republicans who are eager to portray the impasse as Democratic obstructionism, and a ready-made rejoinder for Democrats expecting campaign attacks on the issue in 2006 and 2008. The four Republican rebels -- Larry E. Craig (Idaho), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), John E. Sununu (N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) -- have joined all but two Senate Democrats in arguing that more civil liberties safeguards need to be added to the proposed renewal of the Patriot Act. The law makes it easier for FBI agents to monitor phone calls, search homes and obtain business records of terrorism suspects. The four stand calmly at the center of a political storm that soon will determine whether the law, enacted soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks, is renewed in a modified form or allowed to expire in 11 days. The House passed the Patriot Act renewal Dec. 14, but two days later the four Republicans joined most Democrats in the Senate in blocking action on the bill. The four Republicans' concerns about the proposed Patriot Act renewal are basically the same as those of most Senate Democrats. They say the bill is slanted too heavily in the government's favor when it comes to letting targeted people challenge national security letters and special subpoenas that give the FBI substantial latitude in deciding what records should be surrendered. The targeted people should have a greater ability to challenge such subpoenas and require the government to show why it thinks the items being sought are connected to possible terrorism, the Republicans contend. Their Republican colleagues try to look the other way, but Democrats are delighted to have some bipartisan cover. "In a full-court press by the White House to demonize Democrats, it's great to see we've got at least four Republican profiles in courage," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). It would be easier for GOP leaders to shrug off the mini-rebellion if it came from the well-known moderates of Maine and Rhode Island who often defy the party on fiscal and social issues. Instead, the four could star in a "Big Tent" ad proclaiming the Republican Party's diversity. They include a dyed-in-the-wool conservative (Craig), a rising star and presidential aspirant (Hagel), and two second-generation Republican achievers (Murkowski and Sununu). For this week, at least, the most striking thing they have in common is an unshaken resolve to oppose the law's proposed renewal despite heated appeals by President Bush. "The senators who are filibustering the Patriot Act must stop their delaying tactics," Bush said Monday. The White House said he will not sign a temporary extension of the existing law, a plan pushed by Democrats who want to allow House-Senate negotiators to resume talks in hopes of a four-year renewal. Asked about the president's remarks yesterday, Murkowski smiled and said softly, "I think the responsible thing to do at this point is to move forward with a three-month extension" of the current law. Murkowski, who inherited her seat from her father, said she has received angry phone calls and e-mails from non-Alaskans. "But I've got to listen to my constituents first," she said, and they have been "very supportive." White House officials, she said, "have left me alone," as have most fellow GOP senators. "I have not had people hanging around me asking me if I've changed my mind," she said. Hagel appears equally sanguine. "I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president," he recently told reporters. Sununu, whose father was a New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, took issue with Bush's ultimatum. "How can the president justify vetoing the [temporary] extension?" Sununu said. "That suggests that he thinks the country is better off without any Patriot Act provisions in place than with a three-month extension. And that makes no sense at all." Craig is a longtime favorite of the National Rifle Association. Like his three comrades, he said he is comfortable with his stand, even in light of Bush's comments. "Obviously the president by his actions has ratcheted it up a bit," Craig said yesterday. "And there's nothing wrong with that." His constituents are with him, Craig said. "The beauty of Westerners is that we have a healthy distrust of our government," he said, adding that gun owners are particularly leery of laws that give federal agents greater powers to secretly search offices and homes. "Whether they are business records or they are gun dealers' records or whatever, they are records that can be gained" under the law, Craig said. Such comments are highly inconvenient to Republican strategists eager to tag Democrats as being unpatriotic for their opposition to the House-approved renewal of the Patriot Act. "It's wrong to put politics before national security," Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said in an interview yesterday, as he visited the Capitol to seek a break in the legislative logjam. Asked about the four Republicans opposing him, Mehlman said: "Obviously I don't agree with them on this issue. I think that they're wrong substantively. But the Democrat near unanimity is what's causing this filibuster." Sununu disagreed. "I don't believe this is a partisan issue," he said."

12/21/2005 8:38:47 PM

bill frist is a tool

12/21/2005 8:45:21 PM

chuck hagel is one of the few republican politicians i respect

12/21/2005 11:28:40 PM

For what it's worth I'm glad at least a few of the (R)s aren't towing the party line in this one. The PA has served it's purpose, and it's most important changes are already permanent, the things set to expire were set that way for a reason. Let them go.

12/21/2005 11:33:36 PM

Quote :

"Sununu disagreed. "I don't believe this is a partisan issue," he said.""

unfortunately, bush has made it a partisan issue. stupid fucker

12/21/2005 11:44:56 PM

Quote :

" chuck hagel is one of the few republican politicians i respect"

12/22/2005 12:00:34 AM

It has come to the attention of the Senate Intelligence (oxymoron?) Committee that terrorism will expire in six months.

12/22/2005 12:11:34 AM

Yep. No possibility of re-authorizing a less intrusive form of the Patriot Act. Nosiree.

12/22/2005 12:14:22 AM

1. We don't torture, or at least those of us not in the CIA don't

2. We're using things like the PATRIOT act the right way, don't worry about the wire-tap scandal, but we are going to need you to extend that bad boy the way it is; and we mean now

ah, the bush legacy
it gets more surreal every time i think about it

i hope my kids hate him more than i do

12/22/2005 12:21:00 AM

I doubt four moderate republicans will actually help the democrats defend themselves against attacks over this.

And six months is just closer to the 2006 elections, so it probably worked out very well for the republicans.

12/22/2005 12:29:13 AM

you think the democrats are going to be worried about criticism over not supporting the blank-check renewal of the PATRIOT act?

i mean, i dont give the average voter much credit

but co'mon

12/22/2005 12:35:40 AM

^yes, both this and the wire tapping issue are going to help the republicans in the midterm elections

only about 25% of the population thinks the patriot act goes too far

[Edited on December 22, 2005 at 12:40 AM. Reason : ]

12/22/2005 12:40:01 AM

only about 35% of the population votes in midterm elections.

12/22/2005 12:54:03 AM

^polls are usually of likely voters so I probably should have said that

No one is going to go broke underestimating the intelligence of the average voter. And Im willing to bet that these issues are a major factor helping push up the president's approval numbers.

12/22/2005 12:59:38 AM

"less intrusive" = "more terrorist friendly"

12/22/2005 2:16:23 AM

That disgusts me.

Many Republicans are now willing to abandon civil liberties not only for security, but for partisan whoredom as well.

You people are doing more damage to the core principles of America than any terrorist could.

12/22/2005 7:57:58 AM

wait wait wait

the wire tapping scandal IS GOOD FOR THE PRESIDENT

GOOD FUCKING GRIEF

WHEN DID TALKING TO DYED-IN-THE-WOOL CONSERVATIVES TURN INTO FUCKING PIGLATIN OPPOSITE DAY BULLSHIT

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A KNOT IN MY BRAIN

12/22/2005 9:00:15 AM

The republican party has turned into some sort of motherfucking klein bottle of logic and values.

12/22/2005 11:15:13 AM

Quote :

"the wire tapping scandal IS GOOD FOR THE PRESIDENT"

In terms of public opinion, hell yes.

Havent you ever watched Law & Order? Fifty years of cop shows have ingrained into peoples' heads that this is nothing but a bunch of silly crap that gets in the way of the good guys catching the bad guys.

And God help the democrats if they actually have public hearings on this. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks they can put up a bunch of lawyers against General Hayden and win in the court of public opinion.

12/22/2005 2:21:54 PM

bunch of silly crap:

privacy, constution, laws, ect

12/22/2005 2:28:07 PM

"If you don't have anything to hide, then you shouldn't have to worry about it..."

12/22/2005 2:31:16 PM

Hey sweet its "alternate reality day" apparently.

Captian Picard '08.

12/22/2005 2:36:43 PM

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A KNOT IN MY BRAIN

12/22/2005 2:51:56 PM

Bill Frist is a fuckbag

except when it comes to stem cells



btw, the CIA & NSA doesn't need the Patriot Act to spy on folks

12/22/2005 3:16:48 PM

the IRS does

12/22/2005 3:21:12 PM

the SEC doesn't

12/22/2005 3:21:57 PM

I was just on the phone with the IRS, on hold, for 30 minutes, to be told that somebody else had to call about the problem at hand.

12/22/2005 3:24:19 PM

I expected McCain to be a part of this.

12/22/2005 3:24:36 PM

And the House responds by--get this--renewing it for even less time. This is great.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562008/

Quote :

"House renews Patriot Act for one month Bush had hoped for 6-month extension; law will go back to Senate WASHINGTON - The House passed a one-month extension of the Patriot Act on Thursday and sent it to the Senate for final action as Congress scrambled to prevent expiration of anti-terror law enforcement provisions on Dec. 31. Approval came on a voice vote in a nearly empty chamber, after Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, refused to agree to a six-month extension the Senate cleared several hours earlier. House passage marked the latest step in a stalemate that first pitted Republicans against Democrats in the Senate, then turned into an intramural GOP dispute. It was not clear when the Senate would act on the one-month bill, but approval was possible by evening. Without action by Congress, several provisions enacted in the days following the 2001 terror attacks are due to expire. President Bush has repeatedly called on Congress not to let that happen. The Senate vote Wednesday night marked a turnabout for GOP leaders, who had long insisted they would accept nothing less than a permanent renewal of the law. The House approved the measure earlier this month, but a Democratic-led filibuster blocked passage in the Senate, with critics arguing the bill would shortchange the civil liberties of innocent Americans. Passage of a one-month extension would require lawmakers to debate the issue early in 2006, and is certain to require concessions to the Senate critics who are seeking greater privacy protections. The Senate's six-month extension occurred as Bush left Washington believing that Congress would not let the law expire. ‘We're still under threat’ “It appears to me that the Congress understands we got to keep the Patriot Act in place, that we’re still under threat,” Bush said just before boarding a helicopter headed to Camp David, Md., for a long holiday weekend with his family. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who had led the Democratic filibuster against permanently renewing most of the law’s expiring provisions, said the six-month extension would “allow more time to finally agree on a bill that protects our rights and freedoms while preserving important tools for fighting terrorism.” Most of the Patriot Act — which expanded the government’s surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers — was made permanent when Congress overwhelmingly passed it after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington. Making permanent the rest of the Patriot Act powers, like the roving wiretaps that allow investigators to listen in on any telephone and tap any computer they think a target might use, has been a priority of the administration and Republican lawmakers. Some civil liberties safeguards had been inserted into legislation for renewing that law but Senate Democrats and a small group of GOP senators blocked it anyway, arguing that more safeguards were needed. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he had no choice but to accept a six-month extension in the face of a successful filibuster and the Patriot Act’s Dec. 31 expiration date. “I’m not going to let the Patriot Act die,” Frist said. A temporary solution for Bush Bush indicated that he would sign the extension. “The work of Congress on the Patriot Act is not finished,” Bush said. “The act will expire next summer, but the terrorist threat to America will not expire on that schedule. I look forward to continuing to work with Congress to reauthorize the Patriot Act.” Frist said he had not consulted with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., yet on the six-month extension. Senior Republicans there have opposed any temporary extension of the current law, insisting that most of the expiring provisions should be renewed permanently, but it would be difficult for the House to reject a plan agreed to by the Senate and President Bush. The six-month “extension ensures that the tools provided to law enforcement in terrorist investigations in the Patriot Act remain in effect while Congress works out the few differences that remain,” said Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., one of a small group of Republicans who crossed party lines to block the Patriot Act legislation. Republicans who had pushed for legislation that would make most of the expiring provisions permanent said the agreement only postpones the ongoing arguments over the Patriot Act for six months. “We’ll be right back where we are right now,” said a clearly frustrated Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved."

12/22/2005 4:55:48 PM

Quote :

"You people are doing more damage to the core principles of America than any terrorist could."

btw, I thought you railed against republicans a while back for saying similar things about those who don't support dubya

12/22/2005 7:31:46 PM

Quote :

"I look forward to continuing to work with Congress "

i didn't realize what bush does is considered "working with" congress

12/22/2005 7:55:59 PM