To protect Americans or not to protect Americans… that is the question. And Democrats have answered “not to protect American” in favor of scoring cheap political points.

Writing to President Bush regarding vital reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), House Intelligence Committee Chair Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.) noted that the Preamble to our Constitution states that one of the highest duties of public officials is to “provide for the common defense.” Reyes goes on to claim that he works “everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong” and demands that the House be given more time to debate the telecommunication company protections passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin in the Senate. Reyes fails to mention that the House has had 194 days to debate this issue since temporary FISA reforms were passed last August and he does not explain why House demands for another 21-day extension will be any different than the 15-day extension the White House agreed to on Feb. 1.

Instead of actually debating this issue yesterday, the House instead chose to vote on contempt citations for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers. This choice of how to use their precious time perfectly underscores the real priorities of the House leadership: scoring cheap political points against the White House is more important than settling real policy debates that affect our national security.

Money.

As Congress debates giving immunity to phone companies that assisted the government in tracking terrorist communications, trial lawyers prosecuting those phone companies have poured money into the coffers of Democratic senators, representatives and causes.

Court records and campaign contribution data reveal that 66 trial lawyers representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against these phone companies donated at least $1.5 million to 44 different current Democratic senators and Democratic causes.
[..]

Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.), who is in the running for the Democratic nomination, was given $28,650 from trial lawyers listed as counsel for plaintiffs who are suing those companies becuase they turned over phone records as a part of President Bush’s covert phone surveillance program. $19,150 of that was donated in the last year.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y), the other main contender for the Democratic presidential bid, also accepted money from trial lawyers on the case. Records show those lawyers have poured $34,800 to her and her husband’s campaigns over the years. $12,150 of those donations were made to her within the last year.

So there you have it. The reason why Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are putting trial lawyers before saving American lives is because trial lawyers fund their campaigns.

Another message of hope for the terrorists.

The Pentagon’s plans for death-penalty prosecutions of six men accused of plotting the 2001 terrorist attacks were criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said capital punishment is appropriate for such crimes but that military tribunals are the wrong forum for the case.

The Defense Department announced murder, terrorism and conspiracy charges Monday against alleged attack mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and five other inmates of the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It gave the leading presidential candidates a chance to show how they would balance anti-terrorism zeal and civil liberties concerns in a heated political climate.

We’ve seen in the past that public trials of terrorists expose our tactics in capturing terrorists, thus making it harder to fight terror.

So, please, Mr. Obama, please explain why you want to make it harder to fight terror.

…to focus on his presidential bid?

Sure. Right after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama resign.

Seriously though, I find it interesting that speculation surrounds McCain, but not Hillary or Obama. While one could argue the nominee hasn’t be determined yet, you can bet that the media won’t be speculating about either of them resigning from the Senate once winning the nomination.

With nothing better to do, the Democrats in Congress are choosing to politicize their investigative powers.

This is the Democrats working hard to demonize and scandalize the Bush administration. They’ve been at it since Bush got into office. Sometimes you almost have to feel sorry for them. Since they don’t have a popular agenda to work on, the only thing they can do with their time is smear President Bush, who reached out across the aisle in first term, only have his hand bitten and his back stabbed. The very same President who has kept us safe.

Democrats have not merely made the political attack an art form, they’ve made it their way of life.

His speeches may invoke warm fuzzy feelings for his supporters, but his votes give warm fuzzy feelings to terrorists.

Now and then sanity prevails, even in Washington. So it did yesterday as the Senate passed a warrantless wiretap bill for overseas terrorists while killing most of the Lilliputian attempts to tie down our war fighters.

“We lost every single battle we had on this bill,” conceded Chris Dodd, which ought to tell the Connecticut Senator something about the logic of what he was proposing. His own amendment — to deny immunity from lawsuits to telecom companies that cooperated with the government after 9/11 — didn’t even get a third of the Senate. It lost 67-31, though notably among the 31 was possible Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. (Hillary Clinton was absent, while John McCain voted in favor.)

It says something about his national security world view, or his callowness, that Mr. Obama would vote to punish private companies that even the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee said had “acted in good faith.” Had Senator Obama prevailed, a President Obama might well have been told “no way” when he asked private Americans to help his Administration fight terrorists. Mr. Obama also voted against the overall bill, putting him in MoveOn.org territory.

It says a lot when you vote in favor of trial lawyers over saving the lives of Americans. And it says nothing good.

While much of the RNC’s attention has been on facing Hillary Clinton in November, it is now appearing that they are considering the possibility (perhaps even likelihood) that Barack Obama will be the Democrats’ nominee. Today, the RNC has released the Obama Spendometer, which details the hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending (to be funded by all of us) he is proposing.

This is not all that surprising… Democrats have been attacking John McCain since he officially became the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. If Democrats are going to throw mud, it’s time for the RNC to throw some truth back at them.

UPDATE: Looks like the Minions of Media Matters are jumping on this quickly with their usual talking points.

UPDATE: The dirty politics of the Democratic Party… look at their website… mostly attacking Bush, McCain, Karl Rove, and the Republican Party.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: And Jay Cost over at Real Clear Politics says “not so fast” on the coronation of Obama.

Wow.

An aide to Barack Obama says the man who led former President Clinton’s 1992 bid plans to endorse the Illinois senator.

Obama’s campaign plans a 1 p.m. conference call Wednesday to announce the endorsement by David Wilhelm, who later became chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement would be made public later in the day.

Wilhelm plans to tell reporters that Obama can build a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans needed to win the general election. He also says Obama can bring the change he promises—improving the economy and ending the war in Iraq.

Wilhelm is a superdelegate from Illinois who was previously uncommitted in the race.

That’s quite embarrassing for Hillary.

A few days ago, we reported that Ron Paul had said “Adios!” to his presidential campaign. Robert Stacy McCain suggested in his blog post about the news that Paul supporters had “been misled and exploited,” since Paul can use the millions he raised in his presidential bid towards his reelection campaign.

Well, I’ve found out that Ron Paul actually needs those millions of dollars to save his House seat. See, Ron Paul is facing a primary challenge against Chris Peden, and things are actually looking very good for Peden.

Republican sources tell me that an internal poll from the Ron Paul camp shows Peden leading over Paul 43% to 32%. In addition to that, a generic poll from the National Strategy Group shows that 67% of Republican voters in TX-14 overwhelmingly want a Republican other than Ron Paul representing them.

The bottom line: These polls are the reason Ron Paul abandoned his presidential bid. Just as Dennis Kucinich abandoned his go-nowhere campaign for the presidency in order to fight for his seat in competitive primary.

UPDATE: Pajamas Media discovers similar data… interviews Peden.

The Hollywood writers strike is now over…

Striking Hollywood writers are going back to work.

The Writers Guild of America said its members voted Tuesday to end their devastating, three-month strike that brought the entertainment industry to a standstill.

Writers will go back to work Wednesday after voting in Beverly Hills and New York.

“At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry,” said Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp.

It’s about time. Now we can expect more new episodes of The Office and Family Guy. And that’s pretty much all I watch these days.