I realize that the White House is desperate to gain increased surveillance power under a “revised” FISA, and I know lawmakers have shown a serious willingness to give the president more of what he wants. But there’s just no reason for Trent Lott to scare the bejeezus out of people who live and work in the nation’s capital.

Roll Call reported late yesterday, “Capitol Police officials have stepped up the department’s security presence on Capitol Hill in response to intelligence indicating the increased possibility of an al-Qaida terrorist attack on Congress sometime between now and Sept. 11.” One assumes they’re working on something more reliable that Michael Chertoff’s gut.

But leave it to Lott to push the matter too far.

Without mentioning a specific threat to the Capitol, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ominously advised Thursday that Congress needed to pass changes to terrorist surveillance laws before leaving for the August recess and warned that otherwise “the disaster could be on our doorstep.” When asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott responded, “I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th.”

First, what, exactly, are people who live and work in DC supposed to do in response to comments like these? And second, how shamelss is it for a Republican to say, "Give Bush what he wants or we'll all die"?