Dangerous Hearings Begin

During time of war, it is inappropriate for the Senate Judiciary Committee should not be holding public hearings on the Bush Administration's intelligence-gathering activities. But they are.

Arlen Specter got the whole thing off to a lousy start by not putting Atty Gen Gonzales under oath. It simply opens the door for endless Lefty speculation and almost certainly won't change a word of Gonzales' always carefully thought out answers.

Are the hearings about grandstanding? You betcha. Here's the committee's senior Dem, Patrick Leahy:

"My concern is for peaceful Quakers who are being spied upon, and other law-abiding Americans and babies and nuns who are placed on terrorist watch lists." (source)

Babies? Babies?!

As for the other more likely targets, they're the sort you get warrants for ... unless they're taking calls from overseas al Qaeda operatives.

Watch for Dem questioning along the lines of warrantless spying actually weakening national security, because cases could get thrown out and terrorists set free.

That's their effort to look as tough as the GOP on national security -- but it shows they still think of the War on Terror as a police action, not a war.