What's most funny about the apparent Reid view is not just the classic establishmentarian's suggestion that any anti-hawkish political stance (Dodd's throwdown against telecom immunity) which appears to be based on principle is really just cynical manipulation of the rubes' passions for some political or other non-principled goal.
What's really funny is that Reid & co. actually view that presumed cynical manipulation as saner than an actual dedication to anti-hawkish, Constitution-defending principles.
If Reid & co. thought Dodd was doing all this crazy oppositional stuff because of real dedication to principle, then he would appear truly frightening to them.
It might be okay to manipulate the rubes every now & then by vowing to filibuster to save Constitutional principles. Hey, we all do it, right, sayeth the courtiers and gossips of Versailles.
But heaven forfend anyone actually mean it. Now that would simply be mad.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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