Let us enjoy the subdued tenor of reasonable debate between reasonable people, and sigh in satisfaction as they quietly conduct the nation's business with dignity that ennobles the political process once again.

I just want to vent because my mother is going all Garrison Keillor on me. She loathed Bush and Cheney with the fire of a thousand burning buns, but when I explain to her the various policies of that duo that Obama has embraced, she just clams up and tries to change the subject. Absolutely maddening.

I told her about the Obama administration floating the idea of putting some of the detainees to death without trial, and she didn't believe me--"Where did you read that?" And then I mentioned that Obama had a lawyer of arguing that the DADT policy is "rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion," and she was all, ho hum.

What the hell is up with this phenomenon of willful blindness among the democrats? It's like, everything is OK now, so I don't have to follow politics or keep myself educated about the goings-on of my government any more. Even if such people don't read as much about politics as the letter writers here, surely some alarming news has slipped through to them?

We're still in witness opening statements in Feingold's hearing, but I'm not sure how long I will last on this one. The blatantly illegal and unConstitutional indefinite detention plan advocated by Obama is merely being calmly discussed as a difference in policy. Bad news for my blood pressure.

I hear you. Why can't these jackasses have some good old British Parliament-style name-calling shoutfests? Inject some passion into the proceedings? When the stakes are so goddamn high, it drives one crazy to see them all acting like they are discussing the poop-scoop ordinance. Oh, wait. That poop-scoop ordinance actually did arouse some passionate feelings in NYC.

One of your best:

This is a time for respecting the process, not a time for getting involved in it.

Yes, that one is worthy of Jim Hacker. Although maybe only LondonLad will get the reference!

How much you want to bet Obama gets himself embroiled in a Eurosausage incident?

I do hate to burst your bubble, but when I said I wanted to "vent" about this willful blindness, it wasn't because this phenomena was new to me or wasn't something I has seen coming for a very long time.

In fact, I have expressed the same sentiments that you have many times in my letters, and saw this situation coming, as have many others. Why, I was even excoriated for being a "purity troll" at DKos, man! I know how much you enjoy being seen as The Lone Voice in the Wilderness, but give the rest of us some credit sometimes, hmmm?

Toodles, you cute little sigher, you.

Obama has struck me from Day One of my awareness of him as fundamentally a passive actor in forces surrounding him, unmoored by principle -- seen variously in both his sitting in the pews of Rev Wright's church on the one hand and in his excessive regard of Reagan and of Republican ideas on the other. Virtually every action he has taken since ascending to the Presidency has reinforced that impression.

Indeed, it is hard to come up with some other construction that explains his actions, or lack of them.

His behavior concerning DADT is also disgusting in the extreme. Rachel Maddow showed clips of him a couple of nights ago during the primaries and after, when he said he would work for a "full repeal of DADT...all this country needs, is leadership" and "I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans; ...it is something I intend to be consistent on in my Presidency."

Rachel wondered what his record would be if he weren't such a fierce advocate.

That is so strange about the policewoman. Such paranoia. I think that Terrorists have become a kind of receptacle for a lot--a LOT--of free-floating anxiety in the U.S. I've said it before, but our politics have effectively trained us to turn our rage upon anything else but what it should be aimed at.

My biggest fear is that one of the few "bilious nincompoops" (TM Cocktail Hag) around here will turn out to be someone I know and like in real life! No, seriously, it is that something will happen to my dog while I am away from home. That would be unbearable.

Just like Miss Opposite Marriage, you are being persecuted for exercising your "right" to free speech, eh?

Superb job, Nancy Pelosi: she formally announces tonight that she opposes the Obama-backed Graham/Lieberman amendment. That's how you dismiss rank fear-mongering -- and act as an independent member of Congress.

This is a very rare pleasant surprise. And good to consider that at least Dems don't walk in lockstep with leadership in the same way the right has been for so long. With someone like Obama in power, I want to see an all-out revolt on many issues.

Speaking of global warming, at least one faction of the power brokers really really doesn't like it--the insurance industry.

Or maybe another of Gandhi's quotes is more apt!--

Reporter: “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilization?”

Gandhi: “I think it would be a good idea!”

What is Böse Boop, Jebbie? Something smutty, I hope.

And I was just pining for something smutty. I will bring the vegetables.

Alternet has an article about the public health care option, saying that the Blue Dog mofos are the biggest threat to it.

Also a link in article to join those fighting for it.

Link at sig.

You were being influenced by the rare phenomenon called Greenwaldian Synchronicity.

First discovered by Buckaroo Banzai acolyte Perfect Tommy in 1989.