I agree that refusing to expand spying powers wasn't going to lose them any votes.  I've been thinking for quite some time now that the balance/relationship between political considerations and good governance is totally out of wack in the Dem leadership's minds.  The can't seem to take an idea on its merits and create a political opportunity.  They seem to only be able to consider ideas that in their minds are already defined as a political opportunity.  

Separate from the new inquiries, the Justice Department has for more than two years been investigating aspects of the N.S.A.'s wiretapping program.

As part of that investigation, a senior F.B.I. agent recently came forward with what the inspector general's office described as accusations of "significant misconduct" in the surveillance program, people with knowledge of the investigation said. Those accusations are said to involve whether the N.S.A. made Americans targets in eavesdropping operations based on insufficient evidence tying them to terrorism.

And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

And yet, the Democrats in Congress could not only not bring themselves to draw the line, especially in light of what they had to already have known were serious problems, they cooperated in an effort that guaranteed that this kind of mis-use and violation of the program was likely to continue.

I swear I just do not get it, I really, really don't.

Or, as in the case of Vietnam, it simply showed us night after night the reality of a stupid war, and in that way, ultimately, shaped public opinion.

It's hard for me to imagine this kind of blatent abuse of civil liberties being tolerated back then. I know we had COINTELPRO, and I'm also cynical enough to believe there are always (and have always been) sneaky incursions into our privacy that go unreported.

But what I see now, not just since 9/11, but really, since the death of the post Watergate era when Reagan and his crew got so ensconced in power, is a seeming indifference on the part of the general public about challenging and trying to rein in gov't authority. And it shows up in the silence I hear from the media and the electorate on things like FISA.