This is the headline on CBS News Website: "Bush Spy Bill Stance Called Fear-Mongering"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/national/main3829931.shtml?source=mostpop_story

It isn't an editorial, it is their article. If you want to shape the media narrative and get your message across, all you have to do is be forceful and act with conviction. They aren't adversarial, they are more than willing to spew your framing if you just give it to em like you mean it.

They were acting far more out of resentment......than out of any principled objection to warrantless eavesdropping or telecom amnesty

Even if they were acting out of resentment rather than principle, the fact that their willing to disarm Bush (the looming deadline was pretty much the only weapon at his disposal) leads me to beleive that they might actually take the time to consider the bill on its merits. And of course, on its merits, telecom immunity makes no sense whatsoever.

If I may take the liberty of quoting my last post on the other thread:

Now, if we can only make sure that the late-night talk-show jokes start falling our way, who knows what might be accomplished?

Is the president himself. Just listen to the desperation:

"At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country. Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison."

"pale in comparison" to 9/11? That is reaching down deep to conjure up some good-ole authoritarian fear.

The Leader needs to be "defied" and "challenged" and his demands -- especially those for greater unchecked power -- need to be refused if we are to maintain basic "checks and balances" and some form of an accountable government. This is exactly what we have been so destructively lacking.

Does anyone here think we have any intelligence resources that aren't electronic? I don't. And here we have the demand that 20th Century restrictions, be applied to 21st Century technology.

But that's OK. Any deaths resulting from ensuring telecomms no longer look for threats, are worth the principle of no datamining or keyword search.

Oddly I don't feel any more free.

Thanks for the headline, awklib. It really appears that the MSM is starting to pick up on the framing we would like to see on this issue. I still maintain that once we get into the actual expiration of the PAA and the public is both aware that this has happened (and given that WaPo, NYTimes and CBS are already giving it prominence, that appears likely) and that the jihadis haven't immediately come flooding in with their scimitars for the men and burkhas for the women, the public will come to their own conclusion that the Bush stance was fear-mongering. For CBS to actually put that into their headline certainly speeds up the process.

As I mentioned last night, I believe this story will sell very well with the public. When they understand the cynical use of fear by Bush and his minions, the public will understand on a better level how we were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. They likely will even allow this to serve as inoculation against action in Iran.

Call me overly optimistic if you want, but I truly believe that expiration of PAA could well be used as a major tipping point if enough effort and backbone can continue to be applied to this wonderful fulcrum that has been discovered.

You pooor pooooor wittle baby! I didn't realize you were so scared!!! I feel so bad for you, maybe the president can send the boogeyman-police to guard your closet door! You pooor thing!

And I also didn't know that October of 2001 was the 20th century!!! Amazing how much you taught me in your ignorance. Because you know, this is what your president said about FISA when it was amended in October of 2001:

"The new law recognizes the realities and dangers posed by the modern terrorist. It will help us to prosecute terrorist organizations -- and also to detect them before they strike. . . ."

Moran.

It is understandable that you don't feel more free.

I for my part do not feel more safe because of the data mining capabilities of big brother.

Which leads my to a pressing question: You and your ilk actually WISH for more dead and destruction in order to push across your credo of Total Submission to Dear Leader, or else. . .

which reminds me of the racket operations of Al Capone in Chicago 1920's: "You pay for protection or something bad may happen to you, we'll make sure of that".

While standing up to Bush on this bill should have been a no-brainer for our elected officials I think we'd be smart to thank them for doing their duty. Maybe the combination of the good headlines and our thanks will cause them to repeat their actions again and again. Praising good behavior is just as potent a weapon in our arsenal to prevent bad behavior as condemnation. Sometimes it's even better.

When I first saw the title of Glenn's article, "Jihadis throw a wild bash over the Protect America Act" I assumed the Jihadis were celebrating the vote in the Senate. The goal of a terrorist is to cause a society to redefine itself out of fear. Bush has been delivering the Jihadis one victory after another since 9/11.

These people are the descendants of the ones, which when I was growing up, inferred that if we didn't stop the Communists in Vietnam they were going to land in San Francisco and steal our color TVs. When their gloom and doom prognostications did not prove true, they didn't lighten up, they began training and funding another generation of paranoid extremists who would lie in wait for the next opportunity.

This is the new (neo) group which all people who are the actual "Good Americans" are fighting today. This group as been spoon fed from birth to spread fear and discontent in order to further their right wing agenda. The fifth column of treachery they project onto anyone who opposes their twisted ideology is actually themselves. The real irony of ironies is that they label the Muslims as "Islamo-Fascists". Fascism is the corporations running the totalitarian State, the very agenda which they themselves seek to further.