Someone on dkos disagrees with you and actually wrote a diary praising the Collins column. I kid you not.

If tomorrow, Dick Cheney came out and said something remotely positive about Obama, there would immediately appear a diary praising Dick Cheney, which would then shoot to the top of the Kos diary list and remain there all day, followed by hundreds of comments proclaiming that Cheney has always been quite wise, has gotten a bad rap in the past, those who say mean things about Cheney are part of the partisan problem, that this shows how Obama wants to be President of the UNITED States, etc. etc.

It's noble and good. Ah ok.

After yesterday is there any doubt that we have only ONE political party in this country and it is a party proceeding rapidly toward a dictatorship? I see little point in debating why they voted as they did--cowardice, bought and paid for, or believe in the dictatorship--straight facts of their vote will do for me. This is how they voted therefore they show no desire no preserve the constitution, ignoring their oath of office. No need to know anything else about them because if they don't support the constitution how can they be said to support this country in any way what-so-ever?

By the way why is no in at all raising the obvious reason, for the vote change of Sen. Obama, who believes he is about to become president--the next president to have this power.

Lets get on with organizing our party. The "so call Democrats" have left us no choice. I am looking forward to going head to head with all these traitors to our country. Can't wait for them to have to come to us for help. Anyone got a great suggestion for a name.

"We're going to challenge Congress's unconstitutional grant

of immunity in our case against AT&T. We're going to fight

for a congressional repeal of immunity in the next

Congress. And we're going to file a new lawsuit against the

government, challenging its warrantless surveillance

practices, past, present and future."

That was pretty funny, Glenn. I had no idea things had gotten that bad at Kos. I dropped out of there, by and large, quite a while ago.

When they came back from teh commercial break, Walsh was noticeably absent. I can only hope that she threw her lav mic to the floor and stalked out.

Which is precisely what some people are doing when they state they will either not vote or will vote for a Third party candidate in November because of Obama's FISA Flop.

A president with a 25% approval rating who is in charge of one of the most unpopular wars in American history has the power to bully an entire body of elected officials whose constituents put them into power to stand up to him in the first place and to protect the Constitution.

Alone, the capitulation under these circumstances simply makes no sense to me. So what is the simplest explanation for the data?

Blackmail.

With all we know about Rove's MO, can anyone put it past the WH to to have tapped Pelosi, Reid and other Dem leaders FIRST? Having watched Pelosi ram the FISA bill through the House, can you find another explanation for the heart-pounding fear that showed on her face as she spoke in favor of the bill?

Ask J. Edgar Hoover. Popularity isn't power. Knowing other people's secrets is.

Yes, it's idiotic to imagine that getting more liberals and progressives into Congress will somehow advance the causes of liberalism and progressivism.

Those clear-headed enough to articulate that obvious truth should congratulate themselves on their profound insight, impeccable logic, and highly productive relationship as citizens with the body politic.

Way to go, guys. You're amazing. No, really, keep it up.

Meanwhile, all of you fools out there who have this crazy ambition of devoting yourselves to a district-by-district insurgency against the conservative establishment — you are completely wrong-headed. Won't you be sorry when you get what you asked for!

Just look at history: when the Democrats were a more liberal and more robust party, back in the 1960s and 1970s, what did they accomplish? Absolutely nothing. They didn't achieve any progress in social or economic justice, they completely failed to do anything about the Vietnam war, and were totally incapable of stopping Richard Nixon.

So there's no point — none whatsoever — in trying to restore the party to the same level of integrity through increased engagement with the political process and consistent demands for integrity and accountability.

There is no way that will work. No other American institutions have ever succeeded in doing so, either. It's not as if American workers all banded together in some kind of — what would you call it? — some kind of unified-ness, I guess, for lack of a better word, and then proceeded to demand and work for respect from the Democratic establishment until they received it.

So everyone who says we should just vote for the Moon Unit Party or whatever it is this time around, you guys are the smart ones. Just give yourselves a pat on the back, will you? You're super smart.

it seems too crazy to be true, but so does the easy passage of this bill.

At least Kos himself seems to have it all about right.

He or his advisors (or both) decided that they'd rather capitulate on the issue than face GOP attack ads claiming Obama is weak on national security. They let fear of political attacks (that are inevitable anyway) override respect for the Constitution and even his prior promises to the American people. The press insists on calling it a "move to the center", but really, it was a move borne out of fear. It wasn't an ideological decision (i.e. a "move to the center"), but a tactical one. It was a strategic retreat.--Kos

http://tinyurl.com/6xmaqz

The email you got said the following - This electronic surveillance is necessary and is part of the plan that keeps us safe.

Every time someone says the government needs to keep us safe from terrorists, I love to cite Wired's "One Million Ways to Die" article (see sig). You are six times more likely to die from the flu than terrorism. That's why we spend hundreds of billions of dollars fighting terrorists and killing our sons and daughters in a foreign land and expanding the size of the government substantially with DHS. To protect us from something far less deadly than the flu.

Do you think that's a fair trade?