My friend and colleague John "Rocket Man" Hinderaker at Power Line notes that Robert Byrd, the most senior Senator in years and tenure, has a new book coming out titled Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency. The Amazon listing for the occasionally coherent West Virginian's lonely challenge to the Bush administration includes this classic from the book publisher:

In the months and years following September 11, Senator Robert C. Byrd has viewed with alarm what he considers to be a "slow unraveling of the people's liberties," when all dissenting voices were stilled and awesome power swung suddenly to the president to fight a "war on terror."

"Awesome power swung"? I assume that Byrd's publisher may refer to the Patriot Act and the authorization for the use of force in Iraq. In both cases, power didn't "swing", Congress voted both bills into law. The Patriot Act simply allowed law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information and to use the same techniques that were already legal for child-porn and organized-crime investigations. As for the latter, Congress had already demanded regime change in 1998, and voted for the authorization based on the same intel that the both the current and previous administrations saw.

As for all of that stifling of dissent going on in Bush's America, Byrd certainly will bravely use his voice as a solitary beacon of freedom ... or, maybe just join the ever-expanding chorus:

New York Times Hardcover Best-Sellers:

1. My Life - Bill Clinton
6. Plan of Attack - Bob Woodward
11. Against All Enemies - Richard Clarke
14. Worse Than Watergate - John Dean [he wishes -- CE]
16. Battle Ready - Tom Clancy and Tony Zinni
22. A Pretext for War - James Banford

New York Times Paperback Bestsellers:

2. Living History - Hillary Rodham Clinton
5. Stupid White Men - Michael Moore
10. Bushwhacked - Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose

Amazon Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers:

3. Plan Of Attack
6. Living History
10. Against All Enemies
12. Worse Than Watergate
15. Lies and the Lying Liars - Al Franken
22. A Pretext For War
24. House of Bush, House Of Saud - Craig Unger

Amazon Paperback Bestsellers:

1. Bushwhacked
10. Living History

Byrd gets to join the largest crowd of lonely people in literary history. There hasn't been a top seller list this crowded with duplications since the Beatles occupied the first five positions on Billboard's Top 10.

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