[toyg]

They're losing a lot of political capital, which should limit their ability to further expand their reach in the immediate future.

They're also an item of debate now, which could potentially result in loss of capability further on. At the next round of elections, Democratic candidates will likely have to defend an unpopular intervention in Syria, they'd rather not add to that pile a defence of some invented Federal right to unwarranted spying on everyone's communications; and it's a potentially easy target for small-government Republicans.

[jes5199]

Republicans have, so far, not been willing to use the "big government" label to attack anything to do with military, police, or espionage - their "law and order" platform trumps their "small government" one.

In the bizarre logic of American politics, Republicans and Democrats are both pro-NSA, while the Greens and Libertarians are anti-NSA.

[toyg]

That's why I said "potential". Depending on how the wind blows, the small-gov platform could give them an easy angle, and if it doesn't, they're still the party of law and order, so it's a win-win. Dems have a harder job, for them it's a wedge issue.