John Ashcroft Hearts Democracy So Much

Kevin Drum points to a pointed editorial in the Washington Post - So Torture Is Legal? - which Anne Applebaum wraps up with a basic civics lesson:

Voters -- ultimately the most important source of pressure on democratic politicians -- can petition their congressmen, their senators and their president for more. If they don't, the elections will be held, the subject will change. Without a real national debate, without congressional approval, without much discussion of what torture actually means and why it has so long been illegal at home and abroad, a few secret committees will have changed the character of this country.

She's quite right. We need to be kicking and screaming and biting and scratching, and spitting in the face of administrative stonewalling. Declining to subpoena Justice Department torture memos is not particularly useful behavior here, and the Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee (it was a 10-9 party line vote) need to be bitten, scratched, kicked, and spat at until they improve. Iowans, this means you.