Atta boy Tom!

NEWS FLASH: there are now two Democratic senators with a backbone in DC.

"In a brief interview, Harkin said, “I think it makes sense. ... Quite frankly, I think we ought to have a full-fledged debate on this.”

"When asked if the president violated the Constitution by pressing ahead with the wiretapping effort, Harkin said, “Everything I’ve seen looks that way.”

"Feingold said that even though support for his resolution is low so far, he believes he is already meeting his goal of reopening the debate on the matter."

Meanwhile, the President's approval numbers continue to fall.

In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile Washington controversy.

[...]

Bush's overall approval measure stands at 33%, the lowest rating of his presidency. Bush's job performance mark is now about the same as the ratings for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders (34% and 32%, respectively), which showed no improvement in spite of public approval of the congressional response to the ports deal.

The president's ratings for handling of several specific issues, particularly terrorism, have also declined sharply. Just 42% now approve of Bush's job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February. In January 2005, as Bush was starting his second term, 62% approved of his handling of terrorist threats.

Bush's personal image also has weakened noticeably, which is reflected in people's one-word descriptions of the president. Honesty had been the single trait most closely associated with Bush, but in the current survey "incompetent" is the descriptor used most frequently