It now appears as if the Bush adminstration has jumped the shark politically on policies surrounding the war on terrorism in the United States — and the question is whether this is a harbinger of things to come:
WASHINGTON – In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.
The House voted 238-187 despite a veto threat from Bush to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.
Critics have called that part of the law a dangerous infringement on civil liberties and privacy clearly smacking of Big Brother. Others have called that provision a vital tip-off to help garner clues that could lead to some specific tips on not just terrorists but perhaps life-taking research that terrorists may be doing. (In my own case, I have nothing to hide: I read medical books like Tropic of Cancer.
The vote reversed a narrow loss last year by lawmakers concerned about the potential invasion of privacy of innocent library users. They narrowed the proposal this year to permit the government to continue to seek out records of Internet use at libraries.
The vote came as the House debated a $57.5 billion bill covering the departments of Commerce, Justice and State. The Senate has yet to act on the measure, and GOP leaders often drop provisions offensive to Bush during final negotiations.
Congress is preparing to extend the Patriot Act, which was passed quickly in the emotional aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Then, Congress included a sunset provision under which 15 of the law’s provisions are to expire at the end of this year.
All of this means a couple of things: (1)Administration officials just talking about the terrorist threat won’t cut it anymore for some politicos, (2)there is a (perhaps naive) sense now that the country is more secure than prior to 911, (3)President George Bush’s influence over other GOPers continues to erode (this would have been unthinkeable just 6 months ago).
Keep in mind that the Patriot Act was originally a shoo-in not because of GOP majorities but the sense immediately following 911 that it couldn’t be business as usual. There was a bipartisan belief that the top priority was to do everything possible to monitor terrorism. The Patriot Act immediately came under fire for clashing with cherished civil liberties.
It’s unlikely the fierce debate over this special piece of legislation will abate — but today it’s clearly taking place in a different climate in terms of perceptions of security…and perceptions of political ascension.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.