Quote(s) of the Day, Pt. I

"Please. We live in a democracy. Debating the government's ability to tap Americans' own phones without warrants is integral to any meaning of that word. And the final argument is completely circular. If the government's ability to tap phones without a warrant is due to "a constitutional authority beyond FISA," why bother explaining the rest? The truth, sadly, is that the Bush administration could have gotten Congress to fix FISA but decided to ignore the legislative branch. It has acted in this case as it has acted throughout the war: contemptuous of criticism, dismissive of democracy, and impervious to correction. And that's one reason why we haven't had as much success as we might have hoped for. The president is always hailing the value of democracy abroad. One of these days, he'll find something good to say about it at home."

-Andrew Sullivan, on the idea that hearings on the NSA program would be bad.