Greenwald links to Bruce Fein's discussion with Jane Hamsher about Sunstein's views:

Greenwald also provides strong evidence that the Bush Administration knew that it was engaging in, at the least, potentially criminal actions and destroyed evidence regarding that activity. Glenn writes:

The destruction of the CIA interrogation videos in 2005 that Fein referenced there seems particularly malicious -- plainly criminal -- in light of the new documents obtained yesterday from the CIA by the ACLU. One of those documents -- an August 4, 2004 CIA memo (.pdf) -- explicitly warns "of possible future judicial review of the Program and of these issues," meaning the CIA's interrogation methods and the legality of the Bush administration's behavior. Destroying evidence relevant to a future criminal proceeding is the very definition of obstruction of justice -- a crime for which ordinary people are regularly prosecuted and imprisoned -- yet we have the Cass Sunsteins of the world, speaking on behalf of our political and media class, insisting that it would be terribly unfair and disruptive to treat any of this as a criminal matter (and -- as is true for many of the episodes of Bush lawbreaking -- key Congressional Democrats were briefed on the possible destruction of the interrogation videos as well).

The capitulation position of Democrats on this and most issues is the mainstream position in the Democratic Party. Greenwald points to the reaction of the Netroots-supported Democratic House representative Chris Carney of Pennsylvania to the Strange Bedfellows ad campaign that Glenn and other civil libertarians are spearheading:

NPR this morning has a story, both radio and print, regarding the left/right Strange Bedfellows citizen coalition and Money Bomb campaign targeting those responsible for the erosion of civil liberties, constitutional protections and the rule of law, including this:

Earlier this month, Congress passed a rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. Opponents say it gives the president too much power to tap private communications without court oversight. That argument was made none too subtly by a TV ad that ran in the home district of Chris Carney, a Pennsylvania Democrat who supported the new FISA law.

"Chris Carney is surrendering to Bush and Cheney the same un-American spying powers they have in Russia and communist China," the ad says.

Apparently, the ad hit a nerve. A Carney spokeswoman called the ad a "smear campaign" and said NPR should not do a story about it.

Sunstein and Carney are two sides of the same coin - a Democratic Party unable and unwilling to stand up for its most basic principles. They bank on the fact that the Republicans are worse - lawlessness has become a Republican principle. And thus our political discourse is pushed not just to the Right, but to the extreme right on these issues.

And with an activist progressive base and a Netroots modeling itself on Move On, it is difficult to see how this trend changes. My great admiration and respect for Glenn Greenwald for fighting this important fight.

Speaking for me only