If Reid actually goes through with this, against overwhelming public opinion, against the Constitution, then it proves that he does not fear the average American.

It proves that $$$ is more valuable than votes.

We need to not only throw the corrupt bribe-takers out, but redistrict the eloctoral map so that they do not have such comfortable seats that they feel so immune to the voters' beliefs.

We also need to fully fund elections to restore the vote to pre-eminence over the $.

That should be his required introduction from now on.

the Administration had assured them it was legal and vital.

I replied:

Thank you for your well thought out and articulate response to my concerns about retroactive immunity for telecoms. I will agree to disagree, but would like to make a final point in response to your position.

As Thomas Paine said, in America, the Law is the King. Private assurances by government officials should not be allowed to take precedence over current laws. Your position reverses Thomas Paine's statement, in effect saying that the Law is to be obeyed when the people in power believe in it, but not when it is inconvenient or contrary to their wishes. (The King is the law.)

When approached by the Administration, one of the telecom companies adhered to the law, stating that they would be more than happy to comply with the Administration's requests provided that the Administration produced a warrant, pursuant to FISA. The other telecoms faced the same choice, and put the wishes people in power ahead of the law. We are both aware of the success rate of requests for warrants from the FISA court, yet it maintains the Checks and Balances our Founding Fathers created and patriots since then have died to defend.

This is truly a seminal moment in our nation's history. We are facing a Constitutional crisis. We are called to stand up and vote for whether we will remain a nation of Laws, bound by our Constitution, or whether we will create a new government, wherein people in positions of power and authority can circumvent the law without consequence.

I respectfully urge you to reconsider your position,"

Thanks Glenn! Keep it up.

This gets to the heart of why Democrats outside of the Beltway are so furious. We know the Republicans will NOT compromise, so why do the Dems? Yet they do, and we rightly call them spineless.

On the flip side, what better way to highlight that the Repubs have no Moderates? It always struck me as odd that McCain was viewed as a maverick (versus his voting record) and Specter a moderate.

Words cannot express my utter despair at the quality of leadership we have in our country. No principles. No values. No courage. (With a couple of exceptions such as Feingold who are so isolated they are impotent.)

Congresspeople aren't stupid. They vote in their own interests, and they are interested in keeping their seat in Congress above all else.

That they would therefore consistently pursue policies unpopular with the American people, voters, tells us that there must be someone else who can better allow them to retain their seat in Congress. Let's call these other people "donors."

The calculus is clear Money > Votes because with money you can create the image that gets you votes and paint the image on your rival loses them votes.

Therfore, Congress follows the will of the big Donors over the will of the American People.

This is where the vacuum of leadership (Harry Reid) is apparent. As the Senate Majority Leader, if he beats the drums against it, then the issue demands attention and inspection by the media.

However, Harry decided to take his 30 silver calling cards and maneuver to ensure that the bill was as uncontested as possible. This sends the signal to the media that only "fringe" Democrats oppose the bill, and fringe Democrats will naturally oppose a bill that W wants so no further thought or analysis required.

Harry Reid should be kicked out of his position. But that would require leadership and initiative, which the Democrats seem to lack.

Perception is reality, so change the perception to change reality.

Of course, a real news organization would dedicate itself to depicting and interpreting reality, but the MSM is so clearly in the pocket of the establishment that their sole purpose is to further its goals.

Reporters want to be reporters - rub shoulders with powerful people, be recognized, preen in front of the cameras. They do not want to report. That takes work, and time that would be better spent hanging out on the Straight Talk Express chatting and laughing.

That's what makes blogs so great. Most bloggers can't really aspire to the above, so it primarily attracts those who want to analyze and interpret - to varying degrees of quality. It is also, as was music in the 60's, a source of power for the average person, which is why in the 70's the music industry became corporatized and why, today, there is the threat vs. net neutrality.

We can't have facts interfering with the creation of perception/reality now, can we?

Thanks and keep up the good work Glenn - your analysis is always compelling.

enough people have died to prove this.

"Iraq" was three countries that were only held together through brute force. There is no fixing it now.

We're supposed to be a democratic country (Republic to be precise) that is founded on an informed electorate. However, current politicians seem to think that they are the ones who need to know and we just need to shut up and vote for them.

This goes towards the deeper belief by some that Government doesn't work, and therefore the government officials don't need to work for us.

Significant changes need to be made. Perhaps we need a grassroots effort to vote out all incumbents regardless.

Shows how skewed the chosen pundits are relative to the Americna people.