THE TONE OF THE HEARINGS [John Podhoretz]
Very interesting. Teddy Kennedy is expressing his view that Gonzales's case in favor of the program is "strong" but that there's a lot of opinion to the contrary. Kennedy is also expressing his concern that people working for the NSA and even the phone companies might be exposed to lawsuits and other legal action if the administration's opinion does not hold sway in the courts. What I'm saying is...this might actually be a useful hearing. Arlen Specter seems to think that it's his place to attack, the Democrats may be properly fearful of being too aggressive and are instead using the hearing as an open debate on the complicated question of how to interpret intelligence-activity legislation.
"Kennedy is a drunk, but he can read when he's sober. He knows what a public beating he took in the last two weeks during Alito. He's going to let some other kook carry the Kos water on this go-round."