So when she launches her Constitution-defending investigation into out-of-control government surveillance, is there any chance she'll bring charges against herself for her role in enabling these abuses?

That sounds like a joke, but if she really does provoke an investigation, isn't it a possibility? Careful what you wish for...

I would add a Truth Commission chaired by Karl Rove.

While Harman's "warrior for the constitution" is indeed enough to make you spit your coffee, I have to say that Condi Rice has one upped her with her utterly awful, "I hope people remember it was a dangerous time but we did not torture, Bush wasn't willing to do any illegal even after 9/11" statement yesterday.

I mean, either she's a total fool or thinks we are. Even without full disclosure, the illegalities in question are on record. We did torture, despite nauseating normatives to the contrary ('We do not torture' is a mantra of the torturing right). It's clear, by virtue of her "I hope people remember..." clause, that she partly wants to argue, "We don't torture or commit crimes, unless we feel we have to, in which case it's impolite to remember that we tortured or committed crimes."

We tortured, we didn't have to, we do remember.

In light of this, Harman remains in second place, I think, for most shameless statement.

Maybe Jane would not have been so outraged if she had been illegally wiretapped.

Don't we all feel better knowing she is looking out for us? I'm wondering if this was the speech she gave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo

All I can say is wow. Jane Harman must think all Americans are stupid. That we can't remember anything that happened more then a week ago. That she would think we'd just forget how she sold out the constitution. Now that she's been a victim of surveillance, she's suddenly against it. When the surveillance was done against others, she had no problem. Reminds me of the joke, What's a liberal? A conservative that's been arrested.

On yet another brilliant post Glenn, but this one looks like it just wrote itself. Sure, you hit it out of the park, but it was like a game of slow pitch, with the ball being lobbed at you, right down the center of the strike zone.

The fact is the GOP have gone into such a self-destructive tailspin that they are transcending any possible parody. And have you heard the latest on Neal Horsefly, the execrable creationist trying to become the Governor of Georgia? Yee-ha, he's another secessionist of Rick Perry's stripe, has published lists of abortionists as an obvious invitation for their assassination, and has admitted to having sex with a mule and watermelons in his youth.

You can't make this stuff up.

(link at sig.)

How about:

a blue ribbon commission on the separation of the judicial and executive branches chaired by Alberto Gonzales

a symposium on being out in the workplace hosted by Larry Craig

a conference on rural community organizing run by Sarah Palin

and etcetera

It's that simple, really. Just ask John Kerry.

With warriors on behalf of our Constitution and against abuse of power like Jane Harman, who needs dictators?

But Twitter? Really Glenn? Agghhh...

If Jane Harman actually has had a change of heart, that would be a good thing. I doubt that has happened, though. She still has an advantage over the rest of us in that she knows she was caught in a wiretap. This was one of the things that worried many of us: that we could be wiretapped and know nothing about it. And now that it has happened to her she gets it? When she proves that her position on wiretapping has changed, then I will start to feel a small amount of sympathy for her, but not until then.

She did not care about our rights. She only cares about hers.

"The fact is the GOP have gone into such a self-destructive tailspin that they are transcending any possible parody."

Harman's a Democrat. Democrats are hard to parody, too, you know.

Can't top this idea.

Good for a laugh, at least.

Awwww.

Best wishes.

Seems to be an order of magnitude increase in Glenn's use of biting sarcasm. Being forced to both describe and show disgust with events in 140 characters has honed Glenn's satiricial writing, and is now being applied in his posting.

I wholly approve, and am glad to see some positive effects of twitter, aside from how it frees media stars and right wing figures to say foolish and revealing things.

Harman was overheard on a 2005 wiretap saying she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two former officials of AIPAC. In return, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby for Harman to become chairwoman of the House Select Intelligence Committee.

Harman devoting herself to now protecting the Constitution? I don't know, it seems to me she would be more suited to dedicating herself to picking up for the now-incarcerated OJ in hunting down the real killers....

Harman's a Democrat. Democrats are hard to parody, too, you know.

And I KNEW that - but it had slipped my mind. The sad truth of it is, they're all starting to look alike anymore. There are more DINOs than true progressive on the putative 'left.' So I hope you'll find my lapse forgivable.

"There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party, which essentially is corporate America...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat...essentially, there is no difference between the two parties." -- Gore Vidal --

"The Republicans are 95 percent corrupt and the Democrats are 75 percent corrupt. They are accepting money from the same corporations. And of course, that is going to corrupt you." -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0122-10.htm

While the absolute scorn poured into that letter is a sight to behold, I will predict the right will make some hay with this bit:

Those anti-Soviet statements resulted in the loss of numerous previous supporters, a courageous stance that dishonest propaganda rags like Commentary would never take.

Because they will stupidly or purposefully misinterpret this by taking it literally, and go dutifully finding anti-communist statements by various right wingers that "prove" Glenn is wrong.

Of course that isn't what Glenn was saying, rather that (As I take it) Commentary would never criticize governments it is ideologically friendly with, like Pinochet or Franco (and this is substantively true of the right who loved both men's brutal terrorizing governments).

And that's how they'll avoid backing down on their smears of Izzy, by fixating on this digression.