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• Friday, November 2, 2007 08:39 AM

  Could the presidential candidates be responsible for this change of heart?

  Dear Mr. Greenwald:

  Is it possible that the reason for this sudden backbone on the part of the Democrats has something to do with the Democratic candidates' positions?

  I recall that some time ago you mentioned how polls repeatedly supported the analysis that the American public condemned torture and illegal wiretapping, and that every time the Democrats caved to Republicans on those issues their positive numbers dropped.

  Presumably each candidate now has their own quasi-independent poll analysis teams- teams that no longer take their cues directly from the same clump of people informing, say, Harry Reid and Rahm Immanuel. That would increase the likelihood that someone in those teams would challenge the party's main poll analysts, and as a consequence at some point one or two of the candidates might have signalled to Reid or others that their caving in was shooting the Democrats' electoral chances in the foot.

  This is, of course, pure speculation on my part, but I have read campaign notices by Barack Obama and Chris Dodds stating flatly that they oppose grants of telecom amnesty, so it is not beyond considering.

  So am I just grasping at straws here, or is this a realistic possibility?

  —Michael B. English Read Michael B. English's other letters
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