Interesting. Politically, I don’t know why. They know their base will be pissed and this would be granting Chimpy McBushitler more ability to actually, ya know, fight terror. Or perhaps it’s not a matter of choice…

 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.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.

Although willing to oppose the White House on the Iraq war, they remain nervous that they will be called soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on gathering intelligence.

A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the type of broad, blanket authority for N.S.A. eavesdropping that the administration secured in August for six months.

And apparently a competing bill would give the President more of the power he wants to use to fight terror. It appears to actually be just a fear to further be portrayed to be soft on terror, which they actually are. Why are they? Prime example. When they’re only leaning towards giving the President the authority needed to fight terrorism against our nation because they may be portrayed badly in a political commercial, that’s not being strong on keeping our nation safe – that’s worrying about possible electoral consequences.