Please, Sir, May I Urinate on the Bill of Rights Now?

Above: Harry Reid (D-NV, #5)

I can’t add much (aside from an obscure reference to my favorite non-baseball team evah to cheer me up a little) to to the analysis of Le Chien Qui Parle, Lederman, Greenwald, and The Left when it comes to the abjectly disgraceful capitulation of Senate Dems. It’s not necessary for national security, I see no reason to believe that it was necessary politically, and for all intents and purposes it’s a retrospective legitimation of the Bush administration’s illegality. The six-month sunset period is, of course, a joke; if they’re willing to sell out now — after Bush stuck his thumb in their eye and reneged on a deal, yet! — they’re sure not going to develop any more backbone-like properties in an election year. It’s just an appalling abdication of constitutional responsibility; there’s nothing else one can say.