Some Dogs Should Stay on the Porch

We missed former Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald on C-SPAN this a.m., but at least six people have forwarded his excellent discussion of Democratic (i.e., Blue Dog) cowardice in the face of El Presidente's illegal wiretapping program, which led 41 of them in the U.S. House, including Heath Shuler from the NC-11, to help the Republican minority to give Bush expanded authority to ignore the Constitution. (Joining Shuler in this shameful vote were Bob Etheridge, NC-2, and Mike McIntyre, NC-7.)

Writes Greenwald:

There is no vast yearning in America to allow the President the power to eavesdrop on our conversations with no warrants or oversight. There is no powerful political movement in the heartland demanding unlimited executive power. The notion is patently false that it is politically fatal to insist that eavesdropping be conducted only with warrants, or that we abide by minimal norms of civilization in how we interrogate people, or that we grant basic due process rights to people before we detain them for life.

And this devastating line:

The only ones left who jump at the mere utterance by George Bush of the word "Terrorists" are authoritarian right-wing followers, the Beltway media, and Democratic consultants.

Preach it, brother. Not that the Blue Dogs can hear anything other than the supersonic whine of their master's whistle.