@adnoto:

Check out Kucinich. You'd have to write him in but it would be a vote for a principled man.

Thanks. Ironically enough, I was originally a Kuchinich supporter until he had to get out of the race. So I am familiar with him.

I just wish there was one protest candidate that many people could agree on, just to give the message some extra impact. These..."Democrats" need to hear the voice of the people. They seem very sure that they'll never need to worry about the wrath of the sheep, and right now I think they're probably right.

This is an awful, awful day.

I probably would have liked this last week. But since Obama and the Democratic leadership decided to screw the Fourth Amendment and give the telecom industry amnesty...oddly enough, I'm just not that outraged.

Yeah, racism is offensive. But it bothered me more when I was able to believe that Obama was a decent, honest person. Now that I know that he's just another corrupt and power-mad politician, well, I don't really care.

The Dems have shown themselves to be nothing more than Republican-lite - and that's apparently what they want to be. So if their brethren in the media want to stir up the racism issue, I can only see it as more smoke and mirrors, designed to blind us to the fact that they're selling out our liberties to the highest bidder.

Actually, it's not funny. It's sad. I'd better go watch some old Marx Brothers movies and cheer up.

I take it that you're the remarkably mature fellow who decided to go over to my blog and tell me to "F-CK OFF" today?

My goodness, such rage! I'd watch my blood pressure, if I were you.

The Republicans have amply demonstrated what happens to people who sacrifice their principles on the alter of the leader principle. You may consider the Constitution to be negotiable; I don't. So Obama has lost my vote and my support. But why do you find that so terribly threatening? Are you afraid that there are others out there who feel the same way? I doubt that there are enough to make a difference, unfortunately.

Try not to panic. The odds are that your precious Leader will still win the election. But you may find that when a politician proves that their principles are negotiable even before they're elected, they're not likely to become less corrupt after taking office.

The Democratic leadership is leading America down the same crooked garden path as the Republicans - just a little more slowly. I've already seen where that path leads. Sorry, but I'm not going to help ruin this country. It had some fine ideals, once.

And I, for one, really liked the Fourth Amendment. You should read it some time.

Well, you're the only rude lunatic I've dealt with in the last week, so it seemed a reasonable guess.

As for the rest of your little screed, if you really think that supporting the Constitution amounts to "new age moralism, conspiracy theories and projectionist straw mans", you really are remarkably Bush-like.

I must say, this campaign has been quite enlightening. I used to believe that modern Republicanism was a social abberation, a sort of blind fanaticism that was alien to the majority of voters. Instead, it seems, far too many were simply waiting until their side came out on top - or their side as they imagined it to be, anyway.

Since Senator Obama has now shown that the Constitution means nothing to him (which is particularly ironic, since he was a Constitutional law professor) it would seem that Democrats have found their own smarter and better-spoken version of George W. Bush. Just remember, when the scandals break and the country is even worse off than it is now: you decided to close your eyes to the early signs of all this. You decided that giving up the Fourth Amendment wasn't such a big deal.

But a little corruption is like a little pregnancy...there's no such thing.

I want to call my Senators and urge him to act to support Christopher Dodd's filibuster. But I want to make sure that I ask him to do the right things. Can anyone clarify the specific issues that are before the Senate?

This is my understanding of what needs to be done:

1. The Dodd (and Feingold?) filibuster should be supported.

2. No matter if amnesty is removed from the bill or not, the bill itself is unacceptable.

Is there anything else?

Incidentally, it's my understanding that my Senators (Whitehouse and Reed) are both on the right side of this issue - but I want to make sure they don't waver.

I don't think you're right about Whitehouse. He voted against stripping out immunity in the Intelligence Committee and, as I understand it, was one of 14 Democrats or so to sign the motion for cloture on this bill.

Damn. I guess it's too late to ask him to support the filibuster, then? Can he take back his signature on the cloture motion?

I'll call his office anyway, but I don't want to sound uninformed and ask for the impossible - that would just give his people an excuse to ignore my call.

Thanks very much, Awklib! That helped a lot. I called both my Senators in their local offices. I also made sure that they knew that I was a constituent.

And then I emailed Chris Dodd to thank him for his outstanding work. He's not my Senator any more (although he was for many years), but I plan to donate to his next re-election campaign. He deserves it.