Another example of what Democrats do best — besides corruption, socialism, and stealing elections, I mean: undermining a Republican admin’s efforts at defending the nation against deadly enemies, for purely political purposes:

At that point, we brought in what I describe as the big nine — not only the intel people but also the speaker, the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate, and brought them into the situation room in the basement of the White House.

I presided over the meeting. We briefed them on the program, and what we’d achieved, and how it worked, and asked them, “Should we continue the program?” They were unanimous, Republican and Democrat alike. All agreed — absolutely essential to continue the program.

I then said, “Do we need to come to the Congress and get additional legislative authorization to continue what we’re doing?” They said, “Absolutely not. Don’t do it, because it will reveal to the enemy how it is we’re reading their mail.”

That happened. We did consult. We did keep them involved. We ultimately ended up having to go to the Congress after the New York Times decided they were going to make the judge to review all of — or make all of this available, obviously, when they reacted to a specific leak.

But it was a program that we briefed on repeatedly. We did these briefings in my office. I presided over them. We went to the key people in the House and Senate intel committees and ultimately the entirely leadership and sought their advice and counsel, and they agreed we should not come back to the Congress.

‘Nuff said? Hardly; not for the nutroots and their lead polyp Gleen Grenwald, anyway:

One would think that these Democratic leaders would, on their own, want to respond to Cheney’s claims about them and deny the truth of those claims. After all, Cheney’s statement is nothing less than an accusation that they not only enthusiastically approved, but actively insisted upon the continuation and ongoing secrecy, of a blatantly illegal domestic spying program (one that several of them would, once it was made public, pretend to protest). As Armando says, “The Democratic members who participated in this meeting have two choices in my mind – refute Cheney’s statements or admit their complicity in the illegal activity perpetrated by the Bush Administration.”

Well, guess what, douchebag? They’ve in effect done the latter, as AP says:

It’s now more than 24 hours since the Cheney interview aired and nary a peep from any of the Dems accused. If this is some egregious smear or lie, they’re being curiously shy about calling him on it.

Which, as far as I’m concerned, tells you exactly what their shrieking was really all about all along: power, and their conscienceless pursuit of it for its own sake. And it makes the perfervid demands from unhinged Nutrooters for war-crimes trials for Cheney and Bush all the more risible. Ain’t gonna happen, freaks; but do feel free to go right on pissing yourselves over it anyway. Watching you soil your Underoos over such vacuous silliness — from a distance, and upwind, naturally — is immensely entertaining for us sane people, and is probably your greatest contribution to civilized society.