Keeping our eyes on the ball - or, in this case, the criminals

I'm going to post on this in much more detail.

But it took hours for it to dawn on me what's happening with the Robert Gates nomination to replace Rumsfeld. The Reps do intend to try to ram this through the Senate before the Dems take control.

Remember the illegal, warrantless spying program? It's run by the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA is part of the Pentagon. The Secretary of Defense is in charge of managing it.

Now, call me old-fashioned. But shouldn't the first question he gets from the Democrats during his confirmation hearing be, "You will be in charge of the NSA as the Secretary of Defense. Do you intend to continue the warrantless spying program in violation of the law? Or do you intend to enforce the law?"

Can any Democrat who pretends to be anything other than a complete toady for the Cheney-Bush administration can do anything but fight against confirming anyone who won't declare unconditionally that he will enforce the law in his department? On that program, and on lots of other things.

But let's not lose sight of this. Robert Gates will be in charge of the illegal warrantless spying program. That should be the starting point for the Democrats on this nomination.

Will the Democrats fight for the law and the Constitution or not? It's already put-up-or-shut-up time on that key question.

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