Alter claims that since last August we’ve been operating in an unconstitutional environment, in clear violation of the Fourth Amendment,

My blog post this morning was on the same subject. I referred to you, Glenn, sure that you would be on top of it and you did not disappoint. My signature links to my post on the topic today.

I am glad we have you on this.

I preferred Obama over Clinton, but I was taken aback by how aggressively and -- more importantly -- unfairly Olby railed against Clinton. But that seems like peanuts now.

Contrast this with Dodd's speech which was incredible. The role of reason in our discourse has atrophied beyond belief. So much of it is silly, petty games or tribal loyalties. There are stars in the sky, like your remarkable writing and analysis, Glenn, or Dodd's incredible FISA speech. We have to find a way to make that the dominant part of our discourse rather than a thread, but man is it an uphill climb.

Thank you for this post. I am extremely disappointed in Obama right now, and it frightens me to see so many people (like my once-beloved Keith Olbermann) giving BHO a free pass on the FISA thing.

Betrayed by Pelosi.

Betrayed by Obama.

This is almost worse than having Tom Delay still in charge. With him, at least you knew the enemy you had to defeat.

And last night was one of the few nights that I didn't watch Olbermann.

Cowering to the left? Jesus Christ, when was the last time in memory that that has ever happened? Give me a break!

This issue just seems like such a no-brainer. As has been mentioned before, who in America wholeheartedly supports corporate immunity? Where is the popular uprising demanding this? How could a presidential candidate think it would hurt his chances if he opposed such immunity?

In my opinion, candidate worship is just another symptom of a neutered population. The problem isn't the people's impotence, which is an illusion fostered in every way possible by politicians who stand to benefit by it, and by a media dominated by commercial interests which do it as a matter of course, whether to sell a candidate or to sell soap. No, the problem isn't impotence, it's inactivity. As long as we expect to be saved by some external force, and can only rouse ourselves to petulance when this or that candidate disappoints us, we more or less deserve what we get.

If we're to be saved, we'll have to do it ourselves. In tactical and strategic terms, what we do matters, but doing anything is better than doing nothing. Once you get in the habit, you can adjust what you do according to what works. Then it is just a matter of strategy and tactics, and not an insurmountable existential paralysis.

Don't mourn, in other words -- organize.

Is that really what anyone wants -- transferring blind devotion from George Bush to Barack Obama? Are we hoping for a Fox News for Obama

Good God no. Thanks for this post.

GOP partisanship and Bush cultism destroyed conservatism in this country. I've been afraid that the rest of the country's justified anger at Republicans could collapse into an equal and opposite partisanship.

We just can't let that happen. The ideals at stake, and the challenges this country is facing, demand more than that. Thanks for keeping the pressure on.

(I'm pleased to say that I told John Cole so. He went and killed my fun by acknowledging that Obama wasn't doing good things on this bill. Stupid intellectual honesty.)

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=10668#comment-737076

Now I'm beginning to see what the R's were doing with their support of all things Bush, no matter how bad some of the ideas were. They were afraid it would hurt their "team".

It looks like we are beginning to see the same thing with many Dems.

I don't want Keith to become Rush. Damn.

Olbermann - flip flopper! J. Alter - ignorant! Obama - cowering cave-in to political expediency! This won't fly! Something has to be done about this!

There is a way. There is a candidate who will not tolerate any telecom immunity. That candidate is Ralph Nader. Help support the fight against telecom immunity:

https://www.votenader.org/forms/contribute/

This seems like a 'Twilight Zone' episode...

Don't fear the reaper... Well, yeah. Most of the backers of this FISA shit are undead...

I like Olbermann, but he's wrong, and increasingly there are too much of the usual suspects, like Jonathan Alter on his show.

So now he's reversed himself on a special comment...Just remember...He's a sports guy.

Its not a time to gloat, as an ex-Clinton and present Obama supporter, at the childish behavior of the Obama true believers, since its my constitution too that's getting shredded here. But really. I worked for a Judge in NY, who when asked how he became a Judge, answered "I found it in a box of cracker jacks." You mean you have to sell out some of your followers and break your promises in order to become a US Senator? Shocking is the only word for it.

And this business of selecting champions in the press, now its an Olberman, before it was a Frank Rich, and even the psychotic Maureen Dowd when she did one of those Bush/Cheney travesties, is moronic and must stop. These people are entertainers, nothing more, and they can't afford to have principles in that line of work. If Frank Rich writes something next week that makes you kvell with pleasure, remember that this worthless hack helped destroy Al Gore in 2000 with his phony lies concocted by the GOP noise machine. Thanks Frank.

So like the man said, Watch the parking meters.

Then I turned the teevee off. And it's staying off. I'm done w/ KO permanently. The plus side is, I now have an extree 1/2 hour M-F.

And LOTE Obama can still Kiss my ASS!

Oh, and Edung? STFU!

"Don't be a baby, be a man. Sell out."

--Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce was quoting a network bigwig 50 years ago attempting to get him to change his firm stance on an extremely innocuous joke he wanted to tell that the network felt would be too offensive to some people to broadcast. Lenny refused to cower and sell out.

It's extremely disheartening that Barack Obama is so willing to cower and trade in his principles and sell out to such loathsome shit as George W Bush and the rightwing freaks.