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THE NYT AND TODAY'S VOTE [Byron York]

If you have any doubts that today's New York Times story on "secret" surveillance by the National Security Agency influenced the Senate vote on the Patriot Act extension, at least to the extent of giving some Democrats a cover for their vote to filibuster the Act, just look at a speech given today on the floor of the Senate by New York Democrat Charles Schumer:

I went to bed last night unsure of how to vote on this legislation...but today's revelation that the government listened in on thousands of phone conversations without getting a warrant is shocking and has greatly influenced my vote. If this government will discard a law that has worked well for over 30 years without a wit of discussion or notice, then for sure we better be certain that we have safeguards on that government....Today's revelation makes it crystal clear that we have to be very careful.

MCCAIN AMENDMENT & PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS [Rich Lowry]
The McCain bill of rights, as Andy calls it, probably won't have any lasting effect on his presidential ambitions one way or another, although it will exacerbate somewhat conservative suspicions that were already there.

The only real downside risk is if--God forbid--there's an attack on the U.S. sometime in the next two years when it might have been stopped with more intelligence from detainees. Then obviously all of this will be cast in an entirely different light and would be a liability for McCain.

If Mitt Romney is smart, he will do something to gently distance himself from the McCain amendment, since he doesn't have to vote on it and isn't caught up in the congressional stampede. Something like: “I abhor torture and don't think the U.S. should ever do it, but there are legitimate concerns that this legislation might go too far and tie the hands of interrogators in trying to get intelligence from very dangerous people. I hope that isn't the case, but I worry about it.”

Something like that. Just to put down a marker...
Posted at 03:12 PM

FRUSTRATED, ANGRY REPUBLICANS [Byron York]
All across Washington today, Republican frustration has shot off the scale after the successful filibuster in the Senate of the extension of the Patriot Act. First, Republicans I have talked to are angry at the four GOP senators who voted with Democrats to filibuster the Act -- John Sununu, Larry Craig, Lisa Murkowski, and Chuck Hagel. "Disgusting," said one Hill Republican. "Just disgusting." More substantively, pro-Patriot Act Republicans are angry because they believe that if the Act is allowed to expire, key weapons in the war on terror will be lost. But Republicans are angry about more than just the Patriot Act. When the filibuster is viewed in context with some other recent developments -- the Bush surrender on the treatment of terrorist detainees, today's New York Times story on "secret" National Security Agency surveillance, and the Democrats' continuing "Bush lied and people died" campaign against the administration's conduct of the war on terror -- a number of Republicans believe they are in a titanic struggle, not just against global terrorism, but against those in the United States who oppose the administration's policies in the fight against global terrorism. And all of it comes against the backdrop of a stunning success in the Iraqi elections, in which pro-democratic forces were able to attract the participation of large numbers of Sunnis. Put it together, and today has been a day of great success and bitter anger for supporters of the Bush administration.
Posted at 03:02 PM

YOU KNEW SOMETHING WAS OFF ABOUT THE TIMING OF THE TIMES EAVESDROPPING STORY
Shoulding they have disclosed that the author was bookselling on the frontpage? Good Drudge Report tracking-that-down work.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash9nyt.htm

And as you know, Novak's coming to Fox from CNX.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

From:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/