Fearful of soft-on-terror label, Congress gives in to Bush, telecoms (USA Today editorial)

June 25, 2008
USA Today



The skids are greased. President Bush and the candidates who want his job, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, are all on board. As early as today, the Senate will begin voting on new rules governing how spy agencies intercept phone calls and e-mails between suspected terrorists overseas and people in the USA.

The compromise is meant to quell the storm that erupted after Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was revealed in 2005. So does the bipartisan support mean it's a good deal? Not really.

In many ways, the compromise is no better than the temporary, overly broad law it would replace. The question has never been whether terrorists are a threat to this nation (they are) or whether U.S. intelligence officials should be able to spy aggressively on them (they should). It's how to achieve those ends without trading away the privacy of Americans.

The Bush administration has repeatedly demanded far more authority than it reasonably needs and insinuated that anyone who opposes its view is soft on terrorism. That's a dismayingly effective argument in an election year when candidates are trying to inoculate themselves against blame for another terror attack.