Dems ready to cave again?

By Edward Copeland

Mere months after vowing to roll back the broad eavesdropping powers that Congress had handed to Dubyaland, the Democrats are ready to cave yet again to an unpopular administration that no one even listens to any longer.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Ever fearful of being labeled "soft on terrorism," House Democrats are poised to extend the NSA's surveillance powers for several years. As if that weren't bad enough, a Senate version being bandied about seems ready to offer the White House even more, including retroactive immunity for telecoms that participated in the warrantless program.

***UPDATED***
Perhaps things are not quite as gloomy as The New York Times would have you believe. Check out some more thorough analysis from The Carpetbagger Report, Glenn Greenwald and pontificator at Daily Kos. Perhaps it's not as bad as it seemed at first -- at least for now. Of course, compromises would still lie ahead.