Just kidding

So much for that faux outrage the Senate displayed over the NSA's spying on Americans. And I'm not sure, but Hayden and Chuck Hagel may now be engaged.

Seriously, is there anyone this Congress won't rubber-stamp for George Bush?

After more than six hours of sometimes-tense Senate questioning, the confirmation of Michael Hayden to head the CIA still appeared assured.

The four-star Air Force general tried to look forward throughout the long day of grilling, even as senators repeatedly returned to controversies over the eavesdropping work he directed as National Security Agency head from 1999 to 2005.

The CIA needs to look ahead, he said.

"It's time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the archaeology of every past intelligence success or failure," Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee at his confirmation hearing Thursday. "The CIA needs to get out of the news — as source or subject — and focus on protecting the American people."

Yeah, stop worrying about what we did yesterday. And five minutes ago. And just then. And then.

Republicans gushed over the nominee. "You're going to be one of America's best CIA directors, general," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Hayden.

But some Democrats voiced strong concerns. "General, having evaluated your words, I now have a difficult time with your credibility," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who cross-examined him about his role in the NSA's post-9/11 warrantless domestic surveillance program.

But if those concerns don't influence Democrats' votes on Hayden, they're as insignificant as stale dog shit.

During Thursday's questioning, Hayden vigorously defended the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program as a legal spy tool needed to ensnare terrorists. But he also acknowledged concerns about civil liberties within the program and others he oversaw at the NSA.

"Clearly, the privacy of American citizens is a concern — constantly," he said. "It's a concern in everything we've done."

But now that the Bush administration has effectively eliminated that privacy, they can stop being concerned about it.