By Request: FISA Outrage

Scott wonders if people are making too big a deal out of FISA:

While I understand there are dozens of real policy difference to disagree with President Bush, I'm not sure FISA quite makes my top 10% list or even top 25%, or put another way I agree with Andrew Sullivan's view this is a venial not cardinal sin. So would be curious if you share the outrage and if not why you think so many people are upset on this topic.

To me, personally, outrage requires surprise and I'm not at all surprised that the man who's likely going to be president in 2009 isn't interested in expending political capital on reducing his own powers. I'm just cynical that way. As to whether the outrage is overblown, I do think some of the rhetoric is overheated but at the same time this is a signature "netroots" issue a key example of what Mark Schmitt's called "politics below the Coasian floor" and the only way to organize effectively is for some key people to be really, really, really passionate about these issues. To put it another way, I'm glad Glenn Greenwald is out there pounding away on these questions and I don't really think it makes a ton of sense to complain that other people don't share my exact same set of issue priorities.