And that pressure, says Audrey Hudson in “The Dems, the ‘John Does’ and the blogosphere” in the Washington Times, is coming from the blogs.
Public pressure is mounting on Capitol Hill Democrats to include the “John Doe” provision into a written conference report of the final 911 Commission bill.
The provision would protect the public for reporting suspicious behavior that may be terrorist connected, and is the result of a current lawsuit against U.S. Airways and “John Doe” passengers filed by a group of imams who were kicked off a flight.
“Democrats have been backed into a corner by public outrage over their efforts, so we are seeing these Democrats publicly say they support it in principle, but behind the scenes they are working to kill it,” said one Republican leadership aide close to the conference process.
“There are powerful Democrats in the House and Senate trying to kill this provision,” the aide said.
“Keeping the pressure on” to include the provision are Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Independent and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the committee’s ranking member, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine whose efforts last week fell three votes short of passing the provision to an education bill, and Rep. Pete King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and an author of the provision.
Some Republican aides are attributing the mounting pressure to support the provision to press reports and the blogosphere, where bloggers turned bloggyists are posting phone numbers of Democrat congressional leaders and urging readers to call in with their support.
“The blogs have been a terrific vehicle for expressing public outrage over Democratic attempts to kill this provision,” said a spokesman for Mr. King.
Good. Keep it up.