To read @ UT somedays is like attending a warring family reunion at Thanksgiving in July.

Every body seems to have cute dimples.

A deranged wine bibber from the GOP,

and the DNC, get into a scrap quarrels.

Why scar over the `tatter peels. no bruise.

I hope there are some Happy New Year Political Party Alliances. I'd then send Cheerful Hallmark Easter Day cards.

O Capital Hill. Oy!

Stop this darn abuse.

I'd have a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

People can participate in the public worship.

It's Taoism. Let's enjoy the reverencing the Truth.

If we don't do that, the 3-ring circus will be a flop.

I wrote that Obama

1. is continuing the Faith Based program that Bush created by executive order (true)

2. will likely run the program in a less corrupt, less church/state violation manner

And that I stated my objection was the underlying principle involved and my concern with leaving in a place the precedent of the program, I'm not sure how that makes a difference.

I was wondering about the feasibility of attempting to arrange a protest outside of the Senate on July 8th where everyone recites the Fourth Amendment while the updates to FISA are being debated. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

I confess to not having long-standing familiarity with your topics or work, hence the question. I came here b/c so many people were talking your stuff on FISA up. So you're making clear that this is where we can come for our daily dose of Obama/weak-Dem slapdown, awesome. i thought you were all legal analysis all the time, so now i'm clear.

I am glad you brough up the conspiracy theory again, though. That got lost in the hub-bub when Obama came out for the cave. Do you ascribe to the theory that he was behind it? You say how do I know? I obviously don't, it just looked to me from the delayed statement and so forth that this wasn't exactly what Obama wanted to be dealing with, but he bit the bullet and went along. Sure, i could be wrong, but that's what it looked like. Are you casting your lot with the conspiracists?

Also, how do you feel about Pelosi? You're trying to knock off Hoyer, and certainly not giving Obama a pass. How about the Speaker?

Lastly, is there a real compromise you would support? Or do you hold that current FISA is fully sufficient and any easing is "heinous"? Do you acknowledge a need for loosening at all? Or are the compromises already made by Dodd over the line of inringing the 4th Amendment.

This is why continued focus on substance would be good. Some of us don't have time to comb archives for your position. Refusing to discuss your established positions lends you blog and commenters an air of closed groupthinking insiderism. Open it up!

What you're advocating may be little more than "blind faith" unless you're expecting the government to be more responsive (not to mention, actually accountable) than recent history would suggest.

Agree with you completely--and there's where I think Obama is different from Bush--who actually is proud of ignoring the will of the public. He is constantly boasting that polls mean nothing, and that the only Americans who can judge him haven't been born yet("History will judge", and all that absolute bullshit). "Historians will decide" equals "go fuck yourself"--which happens to be exactly what Cheney told Leahy in the Senate. Cheney unmasked, for just a moment.

I believe, and hope, that Obama is more sensitive to public opinion, and as a result, the massive government he may end up directing will also be more responsive.

Right or wrong about Obama, it is more important than ever that writers like Greenwald apply pressure whenever/wherever possible--especially on Obama. It is his role, and ours and citizens, to give the government something to be responsive to, besides that upper 1%.

Someone be sure to wake me up when Russ Feingold runs for president. If Obama can survive two terms, I've wondered who should follow him (or, challenge him after the first term?). IMHO, we couldn't do much better than Russ Feingold.

`I see, screamed the surprised blind gop-man as picked up a 26-ounce hammer, and a dull hack saw! He hit a thumb with a first bang?

ouch.

Is this a summer Holy Ghost camp meeting?

Who is sitting in the center barn phew? gads.

Che?

If this is Arizona, William T. would be a usher.

I am thirsty for raw goat, cow, or sheep milk.

It's so arid the human lips/tongue is parched.

Justice, Truth, and a semblance of effort? okay.

Democracy!

checking out the CommonDreams archive or a google search for the Glenn columns wrt FISA they have reprinted over the past couple of weeks.

IMHO, it's a much easier format to read ...

Demanding to be "brought up to speed" ... I doubt any one else has the time or inclination ...

Yes, I'm one of those who considered Glenn "in the bag" for Obama ...

Glenn,

You pretty well described the DLC strategy from the very beginning. It began in 2006 with Pelosi taking impeachment “off the table,” and has continued through all the support she and Reid have given to the war funding bills and other capitulations. The strategy of mollifying the Republican positions has pervaded Obama’s campaign and it is easy to believe that it is a master plan design. As you stressed in your post, it is extremely important for Obama to get elected and not McCain. Obama, the DLC, Pelosi and Reid et al, know this very well and they do not believe that they will lose their base support. Obama feels free to attack Moveon.org because he knows they will still be there come November. He will continue to march down the centerline holding fast to the proposition that “playing not to lose” is the winning blueprint. The road may be littered with the remains of Wesley Clark, the Fourth Amendment, and anything else that gets in their way, but so what? To Obama and the DLC, the only thing that is important is winning; how you win is irrelevant. This is the rationalization that defines our body politic today, included with the delusion that, “We will fix things after we get elected.” In Obama, we thought we were getting a principled leader extraordinaire. His speeches echoed the restoration of humanity and the rule of law in our government. Unfortunately, the only change on the horizon may be our perception of the Democratic candidate himself. A better choice than McCain, as you point out Glenn, is not the issue.