Specter Leads Anti-Patriot Act Charge

According to the LATimes, there's diverse opposition to the provisions of the Patriot Act and the Renewal of it, but the only senator quoted in its story about the first Senate hearings on the Act was Arlen Specter. The Act is being reviewed on the Hill because 19 of its provisions will expire this year unless renewed.

Here's the LAT on Specter vs. Attorney General Gonzales:

Some of the sharpest questioning came from Specter, who asked whether Gonzales would agree to limits on a provision in Section 215 of the law, targeted by library groups as possibly allowing the government to investigate the reading habits of ordinary citizens.

Gonzales told lawmakers that the government had used Section 215 on 35 occasions — to obtain information about drivers' licenses, apartment leases and telephone subscribers but never against libraries.

But he declined Specter's request to rein in Section 215, saying that the department should not be penalized for exercising restraint. He said the Justice Department needed tools in its arsenal even when it was not actively using them, comparing the situation to a police officer who carried a firearm for years and never used it.

"I don't think your analogy is apt," Specter said.

Two things are at work here. One, Specter is being Specter, as he often appears more of a leftist Democrat than a Republican. Here he is fretting over ACLU-planted rhetoric (libraries?!) instead of reality (terrorists).

The other is that the LAT finds advantage in quoting Republicans against Republicans. So a Dem Sen attacted Gonzales -- is that interesting? Does that really promote the Anti-Bush cause?