...and heaven knows i'm miserable now

i am close to feeling physically ill because of the latest news on the "compromise" on the torture legislation going through congress. the details are better explained here, here, here, here and here. good discussion here. more disgusting update here.

suffice to say that lindsay graham, who was so convincing in his earnestness last sunday on meet the press, caved like the smarmy party-hack with the walter mitty backbone that i've generally taken him to be. john mccain, saint john mccain of the straight-talk express, has once again sold his soul to aid in his quest for being the gop establishment candidate heading into the 2008 presidential nominating season. i don't know if i can take it if jon stewart allows mccain on for another love fest. it makes me sad to see stewart suck up to the craven and phony likes of mccain, to be suckered by the bullshit.

and the democrats? where have they been? why are they allowing the gop to play offense on this, backing the dems into the same corner they were in in 2002 wrt the iraq aumf? (.pdf file) where are reid, pelosi, feingold, boxer, clinton, rangle, emmanuel and obama? who will stand up? the times and the post have weighed in against the bill in strongly worded editorials, but will this be enough?

it's citizen action time -- call your representatives in the house and senate and implore them to oppose both this bill and the coming legislation on warrantless nsa wiretapping. make it clear to democratic candidates seeking election that you will not vote for them if they don't stand up, either in chamber as the incumbent or on the campaign trail as the challenger. enough is enough.

(update): here's where the dems are...standing idly by, claiming to wait for the gop implosion. yeah, that tactic worked well in 2002 and 2004. keep at it, guys. one nugget that came out of the 2004 election post-mortem is that voters went with bush because he made it clear whee he stood. even undecideds felt this way. and here, in light of that, we *still* have party leadership who refuse to take the fight to an unpopular president and gop-led congress. ugh.