The Abu Gonzales hearing

Glenn Greenwald is live-blogging the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings where Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is defending the NSA's warrantless domestic spying program. (You have to scroll down a bit at the linked page to get the start of the post.) He writes:

Of course Gonzales begins his Opening Statement by quoting Osama bin Laden and Zawahri. We used to quote Madison, Jefferson and Lincoln to decide what the principles of our Government are going to be. Now we quote Al Qaeda. The Administration wants Al Qaeda and its speeches to dictate the type of Government we have. It is the centerpiece of everything they do and say.

Yeah, we've come a long way, baby.

Also this on Pat Leahy, the Democratic Senator who was the target of Dick Cheney's famous line, "Go [Cheney] yourself". (He made it just after the Senate had passed a bill to regulate media obscenity.) Greenwald:

Leahy's anger is excellent, real and poignant. As always, the Administration wants to imply that only they care about 9/11 and remember it. Leahy has had enough of that - he works in Washington every day, was in the Capitol when 9/11 happened, and everyone should be sick of the Administration's exploitation of 9/11 to defend itself politically. It looks like Leahy is.

Greenwald is already seeing confirmation once again of the phony "moderation" of Committee Chairman Arlen Spector, who, he says, "is going to be a shill for the Administration." Spector didn't even require Gonzalez to be put under oath. Although deliberately misleading Congress can be a felony even without an oath.

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