Since he was my primary touchstone throughout the FISA debate, I’ll let Glenn Greenwald give you the good news.
How did this happen? We are so used to losing!
Throughout the FISA struggle, Glenn Greenwald has been both my hero and my nemesis. As a constitutional and civil rights lawyer, his informed and surgical analysis of the issues at stake in the debate were inspirational, and the energy he put behind the netroots campaign, along with the women at FDL, was determinative.
At the same time, Glenzilla always had a gloom and doom tone about the final outcome. It was as if he really believed in the campaign against FISA as an important process in which to engage, while simultaneously discouraging us from having any real hope at ultimate success. He acknowledges that today.
This is the first time in a long time that right-wing fear-mongering on
Terrorism hasn't succeeded. Given that virtually everyone (including me) assumed
that the Congress would ultimately enact the new FISA bill demanded by Bush, it
demonstrates that smart strategies combined with intense citizen activism can
succeed, even when the Establishment -- its lobbyists, Congressional
representatives and pundits -- lines up in bipartisan fashion behind their latest measure. And it removes the Democrats' principal excuse that they cannot resist Bush's Terrorism demands without suffering politically.
Yeah for us!
Reader Poll:
I know most of you are lurkers, but if you did ANYTHING – made one phone call, sent one email, wrote one letter – on the FISA issue, would you comment and let me know? As this blog unfolds, I would like to get a sense of whether readers are willing to engage with me in true activism, or if you would prefer just to read about other people’s activism (snark!).
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