Quote of the day: Amid the yammering of nitwits like George Allen and Connie Burns, Bob Herbert listens in vain for the GOP's "voices of reason"

"Where are the voices of reason in the Republican Party--the nonbigoted voices? Why haven't we heard from them on this matter? . . .

"You don't hear President Bush or the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, or any other prominent Republicans blowing the whistle on the likes of George Allen and Conrad Burns because Republicans across the board, so-called moderates as well as conservatives, have benefited tremendously from the party's bigotry."

--Bob Herbert, in his NYT column today, "A Platform of Bigotry"


ALSO TALKING--NYT: "Our democracy is the big loser"

Here's the start and finish of today's NYT lead editorial, "Rushing Off a Cliff," about the disastrous "compromise" bill racing through Congress on the detention and prosecution of "terrorists":

Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws--while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser. . .

We don't blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they'll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won't remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration.

They'll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation's version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

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Note: As usual, the full texts of both Bob Herbert's column and the NYT editorial will be appended in a comment.