The lede on the WaPo story tells you how they feel about this.
The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order.
"Bowed" to pressure? I don't think it's "bowing" to send the president a bill he has already said he'll sign. That's called "working with the president." But don't tell that to the moonbats.
The caption below the photograph of Bush accompanying the WaPo piece quotes the president:President Bush said he opposes a congressional recess, scheduled to begin this weekend, unless lawmakers approve "a bill I can sign."
We all need to stop for a moment and let the full sense of those words sink in. In our system, Congress submits legislation to the president and, if the president approves, he signs it; if he disapproves, he vetoes it. George W. Bush doesn't want to do that -- he thinks he lives in a different country: one in which the president orders legislation to his specifications, and Congress prepares that legislation to his specifications. In George W. Bush's country, the bill-passing procedure is not set up as it is in order to serve as a check on the president's power; it exists to reinforce the president's power and carry out his will.
However, this president does not have the power to usurp Congress's authority unless Congress gives him that power. This president does not have the power to subvert the U.S. Constitution and spit on the graves of the men who wrote the Constitution unless Congress allows him to have it.
It's easy to imagine what drugs Kathy's on to interpret President Bush's statement to be yet another sign of the Bush thugocracy. What?! You mean the president said that he wouldn't sign just any ol' bill Congress sends to him but actually threatens to use the veto power--expressly given the president in the Constitution--to thwart Democrat rule? How dare he actually mean he'll veto legislation! After all, Democrats say one thing then do the opposite. Doesn't he know that being honest enough to state he won't sign certain legislation is more proof of the imperial presidency?
Captain Ed explains why it's good that the rules for expanding warrantless wiretapping are temporary. I agree.
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