The NYT Editorial Board on the FISA "Compromise"

Can't argue with this:

If Congress cannot pass a clean bill that fixes the one real problem with FISA, it should simply extend the temporary authorization. At a minimum, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should oppose FISA expansion and pledge to revisit it next year. If any significant changes are going to be made, they should be made under the next president.

There are clear differences between the candidates. Senator John McCain, who is sounding more like Mr. Bush every day, believes the president has the power to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant.

Senator Barack Obama opposes immunity and voted against the temporary expansion of FISA. We hope he will show strong leadership this time. He might even take time off from the campaign to vote against the disturbing deal brewing in the back rooms of Congress.

Pelosi and Obama particularly can put an end to this mess. Rockefeller and his band of merry appeasers have too much power, making life really difficult for Reid. But if Reid holds firm and refuses to take up the bill on the Senate side first, then Hoyer has got to try to figure out how to get it through the House--a tougher proposition. But Pelosi could be a leader and say "no." Obama could make one phone call--whether to Hoyer, Pelosi, or to his friend and supporter Rockefeller--and say "no."

There are clear differences between the Obama and McCain on this, and if Congress capitulates to the lame duck Bush/Cheney administration, it will be responsible for taking away this salient and critical issue separating the two. Hopefully now that the NYT is telling them that instead of some DFH like us bloggers, they'll start listening.