Just being an angry letter writer has a very low signal to noise ratio and tends not to get things done very effectively.

Excellent column.

In the field, you don't worry about proper drug titration and manufacturer's warnings about side effects. You first stop the bleeding!!!

[Chris, on the pusillanimous Democrats' position]: a desire to see more "competence" in Iraq and "future wars."

Indeed. How did we allow ourselves to get so far off the page?!?!?

First and front, it's now "how do we 'win' this war?", it's "WTF are we doing there in the first place?"

We need, as a nation, to state upfront that the Iraq war was wrong, and a horrible blunder, immoral, illegal, and criminal.

We need to string up those that committed this crime (or at least tar and feather them) to show that we are a moral nation and will not allow such to happen again.

I know it's hard; it was not an easy thing for even a defeated Germany in 1945, and harder yet for Imperial Japan which still is having difficulty acknowledging the past), even though it was devastated. But principled people need to step up NOW and say, "This is what we believe, and Iraq was wrong, wrong, wrong!".

This is the only way we can attempt to get any respect back.

Cheers,

Chris Floyd's post is hot off the presses (so to speak), and there's already concern trolling by maTilde (~~~~). Well done, sir, and prompt!

http://oct27.org

Excellent post - before bed last nite - pumped up after Red Sox game - I was reading from "American Speeches" and re-read Mario Savio's "Speech in Sproul Plaza" (Berkeley, December 2, 1964). His words resonate today:

"And that, that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience. There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

It only takes a spark. Then all others can gather around the flames's warmth and benifit from the glowing. A quiet, powerful peace.

I love the moment I first read Floyd.

I'd donate a pair of holy soled boots...

I no e-mail tho.

There's a bit of irony here. Glenn's last book...Good vs. Evil.

We are facing the evil of Bush and Cheney's crimes, and the lazy, slothful evil of leading Democrats' enabling and appeasement.

Thank you for spelling the situation out, so clearly. It's sad, but we will not give up. History tell us what happens when these evil forces are left unchecked -- they do not stop. Ever.

They MUST be removed from power.

I believe this is an attempt by Glenn to make himself look moderate, by enlisting an out of time revolutionary to rant for a week. It might just be crazy enough to work.

Chris,

Thanks for putting into stark relief just where we stand today. Clearly, what has been missing in the public discourse today (outside of the progressive blogoshere, that is) has been the willingness to take a stand and point out the hijacking of the moral authority and the legal structure of our country. Given the extreme tools now in the hands of the Busheviks and warpervs (absence of habeas corpus, warrrentless wiretapping, torture, politicization of the DOJ and more), one literally is forced to do a cost/benefit analysis before speaking up.

However, I would point out that, even in minute amounts, some effect of the efforts by the netroots in the past two weeks is leaking out into the general press. Note that today's editorial in the Washington Post supporting the sanctions against Iran is forced to mention the "second-tier Democratic presidential candidates" who have come out against the sanctions. Also, Chris Dodd is the guest Sunday on Meet the Press. If his statements there are anything like what he delivered on the Senate floor this morning (http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/4106), then the general public is in for an earful of what it has been so sorely missing.

It is simply essential that the message gets out to the general public. I'm not entirely sure how we do it, but I think the past couple of weeks have represented a real start. I think a key part of it is to move beyond our comfort zones. We simply have to speak up in venues beyond our blogs. Recent polls have shown that the majority of Americans reject retroactive immunity and warrantless wiretapping, so any messages we get out on this issue have a high probability of gaining traction.

As you said, it is now up to us. It has taken years to descend to this level. We should not expect to be able to recover from the damage overnight.

Let's face it: there aren't many available to those of us who aren't well-heeled and well-connected.

One we do have, however, is to loudly and unceasingly disparage any Democratic officeholder or candidate who allies him/herself with the evisceration of the Constitution via warrantless wiretaps, the suspension of habeas corpus, etc., and - even more importantly - to withhold our votes from those Democrats if necessary.

We can't be afraid to castigate the sellouts, even in "polite" company. Specifically, I mean that the speaking out must happen in the company of fellow liberals who may be inclined to support pusillanimous Democrat X against odious Republican Y. Personally, I've already offended a number of "centrist" Democrats in my social circle by denouncing various politicians. This is a small price to pay, of course, but one people are often reluctant to do because of fear of social ostracism.

You're right, Chris. Lots of things are negotiable in politics, but not the Constitution. It's the bright line beyond which we tread at our peril.