Why bother...

With a Congress anyway? Are they just there to give token opposition to the Preznit for a couple days before they cave in to the White House wishes? Arlen Specter is the worst of them because he talks a good line before rolling over. He gets out there and yells and screams and then turns around and gives the WH cover. Glenn Greenwald gets in depth:

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The idea that the President's allies in Congress would enact legislation which expressly shields government officials, including the President, from criminal liability for past lawbreaking is so reprehensible that it is difficult to describe. To my knowledge, none of the other proposed bills -- including those from the most loyal Bush followers in the Senate -- contained this protective provision. And without knowing anywhere near as much as I would need to know in order to form a definitive opinion, the legality of this provision seems questionable at best. It's really the equivalent of a pardon, a power which the Constitutional preserves for the President. Can Congress act as a court and simply exonerate citizens from criminal conduct?

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What makes this proposed amnesty so particularly indefensible is that Specter himself has spent the last two months loudly complaining about the fact that he -- along with the rest of the country -- has been denied any information about how this illegal, secret eavesdropping has been conducted. Has that power been abused? Has it been exercised for political, rather than national security, reasons? Before one even considers shielding those responsible for this lawbreaking from liability, wouldn't one have to at least know the answer to those questions? [my em]

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I don't expect folks in Kansas (Pat Roberts is cut from the same cloth as Specter) to come to their senses anytime soon, but you folks in PA better wake up and get Arlen out of there.