Jim Hoagland wrote yesterday in the Washington Post that a White House aide told him, in attempting to defend the NSA warrantless surveillance program, Guantanamo and secret renditions:

"The powers of the presidency have been eroded and usurped to the breaking point. We are engaged in a new kind of war that cannot be fought by old methods. It can only be directed by a strong executive who alone is not subject to the conflicting pressures that legislators or judges face. The public understands and supports that unpleasant reality, whatever the media and intellectuals say."

Federal judges are appointed for life. What kind of pressures do they face besides their view of the dictates of the Constitution? That's about the stupidest thing I've heard in years.

Dan Froomkin appears to be equally non-plussed by the aide's statement. So much so, that he offers to turn his Friday column over to "red-staters." Here are the questions he'd like answered: