Freshman Democrats key in debate over wiretapping

[babylonsister]

Freshman Democrats key in debate over wiretapping
By Manu Raju
October 30, 2007

An unpredictable group of House and Senate freshman Democrats could determine the outcome of the latest debate over President Bush’s foreign-intelligence surveillance program, after they backed a six-month interim bill in August and are now torn over supporting new bills moving through Congress.

Most of these Democrats hail from conservative-leaning districts and states, where there is the perception that Democrats are weaker on national security issues than Republicans. After supporting the White House-backed interim bill last summer, however, a number of the freshmen encountered a strong backlash from Democratic voters and groups concerned over the new authority that the Bush administration won to wiretap Americans without court warrants.

“They’re vulnerable because they’re from red states, and they got elected by two percent, one percent, three percent,” said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the Judiciary Committee chairman and cosponsor of the House Democrats’ foreign intelligence surveillance bill. The measure could hit the House floor this week.

“They’re a little skittish about this,” he said, and called it “a problem” for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Holding together freshmen is one major problem facing House and Senate Democratic leaders, who are trying to walk a tightrope in reconciling diverging views within their caucuses while attempting to appease their base and look strong on terrorism.

The House and Senate freshman Democrats were largely united on the Democratic leadership-backed measures that failed in August. But they split sharply on the GOP-backed Protect America Act (PAA), which followed the failed Democratic legislation. Most of the Democrats blame the White House for putting them in a tough spot by proposing language that the administration said was desperately needed as Congress was preparing to adjourn for August.

Some said they only voted for the measure knowing that it would expire in February.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/freshman-democrats-key-in-debate-over-wiretapping-2007-10-30.html

[OzarkDem]

1. More DLC propaganda

People in red states don't buy into getting spied on by the Bush administration any more than other Americans.

Any freshman Dem dumb enough to fall for that one needs to spend more time in his/her district.

One of the latest polls shows 51% of Republicans are opposed to Bush's efforts to wiretap US citizens w/o a search warrant.

http://www.democrats.com/wiretap-poll-1


Pelosi is pretty dumb if she's falling for this. Maybe this is the tradeoff for getting the DLC Dems to support the SCHIP bill. Poor trade.

[piedmont]

2. This should be a slam-dunk for Dems in "red states." Frame it as a battle against authoritarianism..

'cause that's what it is. Red state, red-meat republicans ought to go crazy over big-gubment shit like this. Hell, everyone should.

[Cha]

3. I wish we could just

fuck "perception" and get on to reality..what are we a bunch of Alice in Wonderlanders who are manipulated by our m$$mediawhores? Oh, right.

[madfloridian]

4. Heard the same thing on AAR today...forgot to mention they are mostly Blue Dogs

Not sure who was speaking. But he was excusing their votes on their fear of losing.

I don't know how much longer we can tolerate the DCCC and DSCC loading the docket with more conservative Dems, and then when they win excusing their votes.