Republicans are drumming up terrorism fear to try to win the elections

This is not unpredictable at all. Apparently Michael Chertoff was calling for tougher terrorism laws on the Sunday circuit. The argument this time around is that US authorities still do not have enough power when it comes to dealing with domestic terrorism. They hold up British law as an example.

Before the left-wing reacts to this by saying "Holy crap, the Patroit Act wasn't enough for these guys?" Let's actually look at what they are requesting. The following is from a WSJ article:

"I think we should always review the law," Mr. Chertoff told "Fox News Sunday." "Certainly the ability to be as nimble as possible with surveillance, and their ability to hold people for a period of time gives them a legal advantage. We have to have a legal system to allow us to do that rather than punishing people after the fact."

I'm sure other bloggers will have better insight into why being able to hold people for 28 days without charging them with a crime provides an advantage over the 48 hours US authorities are granted. I also want an explanation of why it is so hard to call up a judge and get permission for sullvenlence.

But here are my suggestions to Democrats. If these points turn out to be legitimate, let them pass into law and don't complain too loudly. Tell them, "yes, under the circumstances, given this information these are good ideas. Let's pass them and kick some terrorist ass." This would completely deny the Republicans any ground on this issue. No doubt Republicans will make this as hard as possible for Democrats to stomach. They will include unneccessary provisions aimed only at pissing Democrats off. The response in that case might be to introduce their very own, responsible and credible law-enforcement bill.