Why Is Bush Suddenly Ready to Make a Deal on FISA? Ask the House Democrats By Steve Benen

[Demeter]

The Carpetbagger Report
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com//80992/

Much to everyone’s surprise, House Democrats simply wouldn’t budge a month ago when the Bush administration demanded that Congress pass a permanent “Protect America Act” — with retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. The law expired, the president threw a fit, and lawmakers broke for a two-week spring recess.

Throughout the debate, especially after the PAA expired, the White House frequently and publicly emphasized a two-word message to Democratic leaders on the Hill: No Compromise. The House would pass exactly what the administration wanted, and no substitutes would be accepted. All the while, the Bush gang would fudge the facts, question Dems’ patriotism, and do their level best to scare the bejeezus out of the public.

And House Dems still wouldn’t back down. In an even more startling surprise, the White House is now willing to at least talk about bipartisan cooperation. (I’m going to work under the assumption that this is not an April Fool’s joke.)

...But the reason for the White House’s new tack is pretty clear: they used every weapon at their disposal — presidential statements and press conferences, alarming letters and public appearances by the director of national intelligence and attorney general, time pressures created by the lapsing of legislation or a Congressional recess — and none of it worked. The House, after all that, still passed a bill a world away from what the administration was pushing for. It was, as the Journal points out, a strikingly different outcome from August, when the White House’s squeeze play worked to perfection.

And what prompted the White House to deign to reach out to Pelosi & Co.? One factor was clearly the notion that the administration came to believe House Dems simply weren’t going to budge. (Note to Dems: I wish you guys had realized this sooner.)

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Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.
© 2008 The Carpetbagger Report All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com//80992/

[Donnachaidh]

1. link goes to a *page not found* page? n/t

[rocktivity]

3. URL is truncated

This should work.

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[Me.]

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