Glenn Greenwald Blogs the Illegal Wiretapping Hearings.

Glenn Greenwald over at Unclaimed Territory has been all over the illegal wiretapping by the Administration and NSA. So, he is live blogging the hearing with Abu Gonzalez. Check it out here and then he has his follow-up.

I would only hope that Spector would continue to stand up butI have my doubt as to his spine.

Feingold is doing exactly what he should be doing - creating a hostile and confrontational atmosphere, rather than a boringly congenial one where the Democrats meekly accept everything (see the Alito hearings). Feingold has been seriously heroic on several of these issues, and it is excellent to see him continuing that right from the beginning at these hearings.

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As I said last night, if you have hope for Specter's independence and objectivity, just make it easy on yourself and give up those hopes and accept that he is going to be a shill for the Administration. If you are looking for Republican scrutiny, look to Brownback and, to a lesser extent, to Graham.

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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.

Sad.