More on Heather Wilson Undermining Moderate Repubs on Warrantless Surveillance

Following up on our earlier post on Heather Wilson's attempt to stop efforts to hold BushCo accountable on warrantless surveillance, here's the response of Jonathan Singer at MyDD to Wilson's fade and what it means for her NM-01 race against Dem challenger Patricia Madrid:

Trying to further bolster her national security credentials, Rep. Wilson has worked with House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner to pen legislation stripping Congress of much of its oversight powers in regards to domestic surveillance. But this gambit appears to have failed as even Republicans on the panel see the move as unwise.

... Wilson's aborted legislation has fallen prey to the same pitfalls that have thus far blocked President Bush's attempt to unilaterally gut the Geneva Convention. Wilson, like her allies in the administration, believed that she could steamroll her opponents by offering legislation so heinous that they could not sign on to it. According to this plan, when Democrats eventually voted against the legislation, she could portray them, and by association Patricia Madrid, as soft on terror. But when a small handful of Republicans came to their senses and joined with a united group of Democrats, Wilson's legislation, like that supported by the White House, met its demise.

Now, Rep. Wilson must run on a record that includes legislation that even members of her own party say "both threatens the stability of intelligence gathering and increases the likelihood of civil liberties abuse." I can imagine that line making for a fairly potent negative direct-mail piece come late October...

Also, a post today on the DCCC Stakeholder site had this to say. I especially like the headline:

NM-01: Wilson Folding??? Posted by jesselee
I don't think I could possibly be less shocked by anything in the world. When I woke up this morning and the sun was coming up, I was far, far more shocked than I am right now.

Wilson offers to rewrite anti-terror surveillance bill more to Bush's liking [AP] ... The proposal by New Mexico Republican Heather Wilson has been rewritten to allow wiretapping without warrants on Americans when the president believes a terrorist attack is "imminent."

I assume that's "imminent" in the sense that a nuclear attack from Iraq was "imminent."