The bottom line on the "domestic spying" kerfuffle.

Please don't stop

"When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the nation's electronic eavesdropping program to a Senate panel Monday, members from both parties huffed and puffed about concerns the effort was illegal," New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin writes.

"Democrats were harsh in their harrumphing, while Republicans more politely expressed their doubts," Mr. Goodwin observed. "But there was one word nobody used: STOP. Not a single senator, to my knowledge, waved a cease-and-desist demand. (Emphasis mine.)

"Indeed, during weeks of controversy over the program, STOP seems to have disappeared from the English language. It's the word no one dares say. The loudest critics -- i.e., Democrats and the New York Times -- routinely call President Bush and Gonzales everything from liars to lawbreakers. But STOP the surveillance? They're not there yet."
(Thanks to the invaluable Inside Politics column by Greg Pierce for the heads up.)