Osama Tape Forces Dems Into Tactical Retreat

It's just bad political karma for your political philosophy to be linked to the world's most notorious and evil terrorist.

This story in the Washington Post explains how and why anti-Bush politicos are changing tactics:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. surveillance laws should be reviewed and possibly rewritten to allow the type of eavesdropping that U.S. President George W. Bush has been criticized for authorizing, lawmakers from both parties said on Sunday.

What? No impeachment? What accounts for this (literally) overnight change in tune?

An audio tape by Osama bin Laden that emerged last week threatening new attacks on the United States has heightened security concerns. Neither party can afford to be seen as failing to protect the country, particularly as corruption scandals and public questioning of the Iraq war loom over November's congressional elections.

And this led to the funniest quote of the week, from John Kerry:

"We're prepared to eavesdrop wherever and whenever necessary in order to make America safer."

Got that? The eavesdropping gap is closed.

Of course, the original NSA leak and resulting posturing from Democratic politicians has already done its damage:

But his Senate counterpart Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas said he worried that the public debate about what the NSA can or cannot do would harm its intelligence gathering.

"Al Qaeda are not stupid," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I really worry about losing that capability and seeing a diminished capacity for the president to act and detect a possible attack on the homeland, then do something about it."

More at Stop The ACLU and Flopping Aces.

Also posted at The Jawa Report and Vince Aut Morire.