Political Suicide For National Suicide

It's difficult for me to think of a better way to describe the avowed intention of some Senate Democrats to filibuster the renewal of the Patriot Act:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid may be about to follow top Democrats Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi over the cliff on national security and defense issues - by launching a filibuster against the Patriot Act.

Congressional Republicans are pressing for a four-year extension of the measure, which has been widely credited with helping to prevent major terrorist attacks in the U.S. since 9/11.

A key provision of the Act allows intelligence officials to cooperate with law enforcement in terrorist investigations, which had been banned during the Clinton administration.

But apparently Senator Reid doesn't think that's very important.

Screw a four-year renewal - I say make it permanent. Make the Democrats have to launch a campaign to repeal it instead of simply obstructing the PA's continuation. Stop being so timid in defense of American civilian lives and make the other side justify fully exposing them to terrorist onslaught once more.

Still, that the Donks are even contemplating a filibuster of the PA shows consistency with their overall pattern of being their own worst political enemies. The motivation couldn't be any balder: remove the PA's anti-terror protections, facilitate another devastating Islamist mass-casualty attack, and then blame it on the Bush Administration's "incompetence" and "provocations of the terrorists" by its "genocidal invasion of Iraq".

I won't presume to speak for anybody else - even though I know I speak for multitudes - but I'm really getting sick of this despicable, solipsistic, self-serving political BS. If the Democrats really, truly base a third consecutive election cycle on this same sedition gimmick, I'll be getting a great deal more optimistic about GOP chances next November, no matter how else Republicans screw up.

Okay, not if they let Judge Alito get borked, but other than that....