Why?

Glen Greenwald has a post up today documenting the absurd lengths Harry Reid is going to in order to ensure that the Senate passes a bill that gives blanket immunity to the telecom companies for warrantless wiretapping of your conversations. Basically, Chris Dodd is throwing away his entire presidential campaign in order to filibuster the telecom immunity bill, a position he has been forced into taking because his "hold" on the legislation has been overruled by Reid.

The interesting thing to note is that Reid has over and over again provided coverage for other senators holds, which essentially kill whatever bill is being debated. The question is: why? Is there some deal? Can it really be the case that Reid and Pelosi fear that the Dems will be considered soft on terrorism if they deign to challenge the anti-consitutional excesses of this discredited and famously unpopular administration?

As Greenwald says:

Isn't it just amazing? Reid is using every power he has, including some which run directly contrary to how the Senate has traditionally operated (and how it still operates when it comes to GOP prerogatives), to ensure that one of the most glaring scandals involving Bush lawbreaking -- warrantless surveillance on U.S. citizens -- is never investigated and there is never any accountability for it. And the methods he is using to accomplish that are as corrupt as the results themselves.