Someone who repeatedly makes bald-faced lies in order to promote a position that has no merit.

An entire article devoted to how Iran has no intention of making nuclear weapons, but if it decided to, it would still take them at least 6 months to do it. No reversal, no change, no new information, yet a troll will call black blue and use a photo of a sunset to claim the sun rises in the west.

Back in the 40s, it took us only 3 years to go from theory to a working bomb. You know, way back before we even had a microchip... Of course any modern state with a working nuclear energy plants could produce a bomb within six months to a year if they devoted themselves to it and didn't try to hide it.

So mister Troll Suarez, why do you hate America? And are you still donating to the American Nazi party? And has your wife recovered from the time you hit her with your pot-growing Chia pet? And if you put your mattress on the floor, you wouldn't have to worry about Commies hiding under there.

I think that what is likely to be a major driving force behind the Democrats folding here has nothing whatsoever to do with their fear of this being used as a campaign issue.

A perhaps simplistic view of a Congresscritter's job, as it has unfortunately become, is to make legislation that economically or in some other way directly benefits their most vocal (i.e. moneygiving) supporters back home. To do that, they have to pass legislation (i.e. pork barrel stuff). The Republicans have made it abundantly clear that one of their primary goals right now is to hide illegal actions, and they are more than capable of halting all work on the hill until they get what they want (shutting down the government until they get what they want has long been a favorite tactic of theirs).

It is likely that the Democrats have gotten all sorts of agreements from Republican leaders that they won't hinder various pet legislation efforts of the Democratic leadership. Therefore, it was a compromise.

The Republicans get CYA, the Dems get to bring home the bacon, and only the Constitution loses (which hasn't lost anybody an election yet).

I write my little note about how the 4th amendment may have been sold for pork, I take a shower, and Glenn has already posted an update with an article stating the asking price.

Good to know that price for the rule of law and 4th amendment protections is $95Billion

Good to know they are at least reasonably high priced whores....

has anyone else noticed how much time you are wasting waiting for adopt.specificclick.net while trying to read these blogs and comments? That's a bit of spyware gathering information about what sites you visit so they can better target ads at you....

My bet is none of the above. See update IV, they had 95 billion other reasons.

For the vast majority of the Congress, including all the Democratic leadership apparently, civil liberties, war on terror, etc. are the Circuses they distract the masses with while they give the Bread to their campaign contributors... don't worry though, at least the Democrats are kind enough to leave a few crumbs for their constituents to fight over.

That may be a bit harsh, but Pelosi et al. have been frustrated for many years that they haven't been able to get any of there pet programs passed... now she can, but the price is your civil liberties...

Not to imply that those pet programs are necessarily bad things, but she is a small minded person during times that demand big picture thinking. And, to be honest, it is highly unlikely that selling out our freedoms will result in any significant political fallout, which is why they simply don't care that much.