Caroline Fredrickson, the Washington legislative director for the ACLU, said the other day that Democrats "have a Pavlovian reaction: Whenever the president says the word 'terrorism,' they roll over and play dead."

It's obviously not all Dems. In giving the president sweeping new surveillance powers, 16 Dems broke ranks in the Senate and 41 in the House. The New York Times explained their motivation.

[W]ith the Senate already in recess, Democrats confronted the choice of allowing the administration's bill to reach the floor and be approved mainly by Republicans or letting it die.

If it had stalled, that would have left Democratic lawmakers, long anxious about appearing weak on national security issues, facing an August spent fending off charges from Republicans that they had left Americans exposed to threats.

I'm curious, these Dems realize that Republicans are going to call them "weak on terror" anyway, right?