I noted earlier that John McCain has not used the impasse over FISA reauthorization to cast doubt on Barack Obama’s leadership and credibility on homeland security. (After all, that doesn’t have anything to do with Iraq troops or the surge.) I questioned whether it might be smart to highlight the Guantanamo habeas corpus dilemma–the prospect of hundreds of terrorists marching into court with discovery requests in hand–to highlight th contrast between him and Obama. Now it seems he may do just that.

This is not simply a matter of scoring points. It is a very real national security issue and voters need to know whether Obama will demonstrate any independence from the left-wing, trial-lawyer mantra that these people get full access to the courts and all legal procedural rights afforded to American citizens, even if it means forcing us to release terrorists who may kill Americans. Again, this is not a matter of providing some procedural guarantees for detainees (the Bush Adminsitration and Congress tried that), but of finding a solution to the fix we are now in thanks to five members of the Supreme Court.

If McCain can explain this in simple terms he would go a long way toward educating the public about what is at stake and what happens when trial lawyers control national security policy.