The Noise Machine Gets Noisier

THE NOISE MACHINE GETS NOISIER....Now see, this is why Republican strategists are cleverer than me. For the past couple of weeks they've been hammering Democrats for being weak on terror because they oppose retroactive immunity for telecom companies that may have broken the law after 9/11. And that's pretty much what I'd expect them to do. But it never would have occurred to me to switch gears and claim that the real reason Dems were opposing immunity was because they're slaves of the trial lawyer lobby. That's inspiration. Two right-wing hot buttons at once!

Of course, it's ridiculous enough that it's not getting any traction except in GOP fundraising mailers aimed at the fever swamp, but it turns out that there's actually something to this. It's just not on the Democratic side:

With the House Democrats' refusal to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies — stalling the rewrite of the warrantless wiretapping program — GOP leadership aides are grumbling that their party isn't getting more political money from the telecommunications industry.

...."There's no question that from time to time staff, and maybe some Members, say to fellow travelers: 'Are you giving us some air cover? Are you helping us help you?'"