“Conceived in political sin and born in weakness and pain”

The Washington Times reports that a group of families of September 11 victims (the 300-member Families for a Secure America) has told Congress to scrap the entire intelligence overhaul effort this year and start over next year rather than pass the pending bill, which omits strong immigration security provisions. Although the group’s rhetoric is overblown (“you allowed the murder of my son. I will not allow you to kill my daughters”), its advice is sound. Of course, there are other 9/11 family groups that have been demanding passage of the pending bill. It is these groups that seem to have received nearly all of the MSM coverage.
If Congress starts over next year, it should also take a very hard look at the bureaucratic reshuffling provisions of the current bill. Rich Lowry explains why that reshuffling is meaningless and, in some respects, counter-productive. But Tony Blankley predicts that the flawed bill will pass this year, and he recounts the sorry political history that militates in favor of that outcome. As Blankley puts it, “it is melancholy to consider that at a time of great national danger the first major intelligence reform in a half a century was conceived in political sin and is being born in weakness and pain. It is not an auspicious birth.” Indeed.