"Last Saturday, the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted a bill that's anathema to the party base: authorization of eavesdropping on suspected terrorists without a court warrant. It passed because Democrats couldn't take the political risk of going home for the August recess having shut off U.S. surveillance of threats to the country. But since they couldn't blame themselves, they blamed the non-political DNI.
At issue is whether McConnell, in a closed-door meeting, accepted a Democratic plan sharply limiting warrantless eavesdropping and then reneged under White House pressure. The Democratic leadership hoped the admiral's approval would give enough Republicans and Democrats cover to vote for their bill. Instead, his disapproval produced a rare breakdown in Democratic discipline during this Congress.
McConnell, who spent 26 of his 29 Navy active-duty years in intelligence, was not well known on Capitol Hill until last week. Having served the last four years of his naval career as President Clinton's National Security Agency director, he never was considered a Republican. That was before last week's meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with other key House Democrats with McConnell on the phone. No Republicans were invited.
Hopes of passing the bill faded when McConnell issued a written statement saying, "I strongly oppose it," adding that it "would not allow me to carry out my responsibility to provide warning and to protect the nation." Nevertheless, Democratic leaders brought up their bill last Friday under a procedure requiring a two-thirds vote for passage to prevent the Republicans from offering a stronger substitute. The 218 to 207 vote fell far short.
That left Democrats in a difficult position. Could they now go home for August without having passed a bill and face GOP taunts that Congress was permitting terrorists to communicate freely? They had no choice but to permit the administration's bill to come to vote Saturday night just before adjournment for the recess, without imposing party discipline. Not a single Democrat spoke in favor of the bill. No committee chairman voted for it. But 41 House Democrats did; it passed 227 to 183. The bill also passed the Senate easily, supported by 16 Democrats.
To explain this defeat, Democrats in debate added McConnell to their rogue's gallery along with President Bush and Alberto Gonzales. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y) suggested that the DNI accepted the Democratic restrictions "until he spoke to the White House, and now he changes politically." Off the floor, one prominent Democrat said (not for quotation) that McConnell "was less than truthful." On the record, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel told me: "He was not negotiating in good faith."
What did McConnell say in his conference with the Democrats? The usually prudent House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was measured in floor debate, saying the DNI (in a "direct quote") informed the Democrats that their measure "significantly enhances America's security," adding: "I do not imply that he said he supported it." McConnell, a reticent professional intelligence officer, refused to talk to me about his comments to the Democrats. But Rep. Pete Hoekstra, top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, talked with McConnell Saturday and Monday and told me: "He never had a deal with the Democrats."
In three decades of dealing with intelligence, McConnell never got the abuse he encountered in these two House sessions when he was called a cowardly liar. With the Democratic base bitterly opposed to eavesdropping but party leaders wary of challenging Bush on protecting the country from terror, the admiral became the scapegoat."
In other words, the dems were pwned. Forced into doing the right thing or lose even more face with the voters. The REAL voters and not the Kunt, pardon Kos Kids. But now they're pissed. They hate when, at the end of the day, they've actually done something to benefit America and not degrade it. The despise doing the right thing so but of course they simply must blame someone else, some liar, some Bush-Stooge. Kudos to George & Company for finding the right buttons to push in getting these traitorous scum on the side of America and not its enemies.
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