Bush in the Briar Patch

Why the president wants hearings on spying.
By John Dickerson
Posted Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006, at 7:55 PM ET

Bring on the hearings

George Bush wants congressional hearings to look into his administration's domestic eavesdropping. At first he wasn't so keen on the idea, but yesterday he said they'd be "good for democracy." Hearings are good for Jon Stewart; good for C-SPAN; good for fundraising. But good for democracy? Has he watched Alito this week? The political acrimony reached such a pitch yesterday that Judge Alito's wife left the hearing room in tears. It's hard to conceive of hearings on any topic being good for the commonweal in this environment.

But that's precisely why George Bush wants hearings on domestic spying. He's inviting Democrats to another round of self-immolation. In 2002, the Republican Party used the debate over the Department of Homeland Security to attack Democrats in the off-year election by arguing the party was soft on terror. The president and his aides hope the NSA hearings will offer the same opportunity in 2006.

It is true that in the Alito hearings it was a Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, and not a Democrat, whose remarks made Judge Alito's wife cry. It's also true that Alito's limited answers contributed to the atmosphere that forced Democrats like Ted Kennedy to act out. It's also true that the Democrats are desperate. But you don't have to come down on one side or the other of these issues to know that it's not good for members of the Democratic Party to look like bullies. (For teeing up the moment, Sen. Graham should get a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands.)

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