Niki Tsongas failed to take a principled stand on the PATRIOT Act last week. This is exactly the kind of “compromise” that makes the Democratic Party look weak.
Tsongas defended the vote as a stopgap measure until lawmakers on Capitol Hill can agree to a suitable alternative that balances personal freedoms with the need to protect the United States from attacks at home and abroad. President Barack Obama signed the extension into law on Saturday.
“This is a temporary one-year extension, and I do have serious concerns with it, but we don’t yet have a substitute to correct them,” Tsongas told The Sun when questioned about her vote. “We saw with the Christmas Day bomber that we still have real problems collecting intelligence and sharing it, and we need a broad solution.”
The House voted 315-97 last Thursday to extend three key provisions of the Patriot Act related to wiretapping and surveillance that were set to expire on Sunday. The vote, coming on the heels of unanimous consent without a roll call in the Senate, extends the powers granted to the federal government until Feb. 28, 2011.
Tsongas joined 127 Democrats, including the party leadership, in backing the extension, but was one of only three members of the Massachusetts delegation to support the measure. U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Boston, probably the most conservative of the delegation, and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, also voted to support the extension.
The PATRIOT Act is a steaming pile of crap. It should have been repealed the first month that the Democrats gained a majority. That they have not done so, but have gone on to extend it, is an indicator of how little they value our rights.
don’t fly so I don’t have to worry about radiation from Logan’s nifty new complicance enforcement scanning devices.
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p>I can’t go to the conference.
http://www.treasoninamericacon…
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p>So I have to occupy space in NorthComm but I don’t have to accept myself as an “American”, or should I say I am formerly “American”. How is that going to work on the census forms?
Not good.
So this is only a 1 year extention of the trampling of our Constitutional Rights? Lovely.
How many years have they had to come up with an alternative that protects our liberties?
Let’s wait until there are more Republicans in Congress so we can have a really reasonable and sane discussion of civil liberties and our response to terrorism. The bill will be so much better.
There was a great campaign kickoff event today in Lowell. Good write up over at richardhowe.com
Just water it down a bit? Nibble off the terrible parts, a bit at a time?
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p>If they kept re-passing it, but each time it was less offensive, it wouldn’t be quite so awful. The Dems could proclaim “we suck less!” instead of “we suck just as bad, but we just don’t like it!”
Just water it down a bit? Nibble off the terrible parts, a bit at a time?
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p>If they kept re-passing it, but each time it was less offensive, it wouldn’t be quite so awful. The Dems could proclaim “we suck less!” instead of “we suck just as bad, but we just don’t like it!”
the national defense was supposed to protect my rights and keep me from being subjugated by a police state.
to whittle away at your Constitutional Rights.
http://www.informationliberati…
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p>I also could have posted about the cop punching a handcuffed man in the face, tazering grandma or the six year old suspended from kindergarten for shooting his classmates with his finger.
Looking at your linked article, having the likes of Ed Whelan and Jeff Sessions up in arms against him amounts to a strong endorsement of Liu.
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p>How about you use your super intellect to make some constructive comments, instead of constantly telling us we’re doomed because every single person in government is in thrall to The Secret Cabal?
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p>For the record, tasering Grandma, punching handcuffed suspects, and the War on Boys are all bad things, and should be curtailed. I am not convinced that any of them relate to the PATRIOT Act or Niki Tsongas, though.