More on the FISA "Compromise"

Glenn Greenwald comments on the absurdity of the claims coming from Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer that the Democrats scored a major victory on the FISA rewrite.

Perhaps the most telling part is the udpate at the bottom: a Fox News poll that shows Republicans give Congress a 23% approval rating while Democrats give only 18%. So, in the wake of this major victory for the Democratic party, a Democratic majority in Congress has managed to score a higher approval rating among Republicans than among Democrats. Well played, guys.

Another point that Greenwald hits on is the strategy the Democrats seem to be employing here. Basically, they cede that the Republicans are better on national security, so they give in to all of the Republicans' demands to protect themselves from the GOP bludgeoning them with the "soft on defense" label. How pathetic -- especially when the Republicans have an abysmal record on national defense during the course of this administration.

Furthermore, the Republicans' lousy record on national defense isn't too cerebral a point to make to the public. If they're so good on national defense, why aren't we going after Osama bin Laden? If they're so good on national defense, why is our army struggling to recruit to such a degree that they're letting criminals in now? If they're so good on defense, why did they tell us that the Iraq war would only last a few weeks, and then, on May 2, 2003, why did Bush declare the war was over? If they're so good on national defense, why did they allow themselves to be duped by a con man (Ahmed Chalabi) and a source named "curveball" into believing that Saddam Hussein had an active WMD program? If they're so good on national defense, how did they manage to not prevent the 9/11 attacks after an August 2001 Presidential daily briefing told them that bin Laden was determined to strike in the US?

The Republicans have no standing with which to claim strength on national defense. Why are the Democrats passing legislation that shreds the 4th amendment instead of shining a public spotlight on the Republicans' national defense failures?