Paul Kiel found this astonishing AP story:

A top Democratic leader opened the door Tuesday to granting U.S. telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the government conduct electronic surveillance without court orders, but said the Bush administration must first detail what those companies did.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said providing the immunity will likely be the price of getting President Bush to sign into law new legislation extending the government's surveillance authority. About 40 pending lawsuits name telecommunications companies for alleged violations of wiretapping laws. Democrats introduced a draft version of the new law Tuesday _ without the immunity language.

"We have not received documentation as to what in fact was done, for which we've been asked to give immunity," Hoyer said.

If this report is accurate, Steny Hoyer has just proved that he is the stupidest person in the Democratic Party alive today - and perhaps for all time.

As we all know, George Bush and his subordinates have broken the law repeatedly - perhaps thousands of times, perhaps millions, perhaps even billions - by illegally capturing the phone calls and emails of American citizens without a warrant. Under FISA, the penalty for each violation is a fine up to $10,000, up to five years in jail, or both.

George Bush personally authorized these massive illegal wiretaps through executive orders at least 30 times.

If George Bush were prosecuted, he'd spend the rest of his life in jail. If Democrats wanted to impeach Bush, they'd have a slam-dunk case.

(Of course Democrats don't have the smoking-gun evidence of Bush's crimes in hand. Why not? Because Bush refuses to give it to them, even though they started asking for it two years ago (under then-Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter) when the NY Times first exposed the scandal. But all they need to do to get the evidence is enforce their subpoenas through Inherent Contempt (locking up stonewalling officials in a DC jail like they do to anti-Bush protesters) or starting impeachment hearings, which would make enforcement of the subpoenas by Federal courts easier.)

In other words, Democrats have Bush over a barrel - or as they say in Texas, they have him by the balls.

So what does Steny Hoyer want to do with this unbelievable leverage?

He could use it for many things. For example, he could tell Bush to bring our troops safely home from Iraq now or face impeachment and prosecution for violating FISA.

He could tell Bush to appoint a Special Prosecutor to prosecute the hundreds of billions in corrupt contracts to his cronies from Iraq to the Gulf Coast or face impeachment and prosecution for violating FISA.

He could tell Bush to de-Bushify the executive branch by firing every Michael Brown and Monica Goodling or face impeachment and prosecution for violating FISA.

He could tell Bush to provide universal health care, stop global warming, and fix all our crumbling schools, roads, bridges, and levees or face impeachment and prosecution for violating FISA.

He could tell Bush to cut taxes on working families by raising taxes on the rich or face impeachment and prosecution for violating FISA.

Get the picture?

Now there's one crucial assumption in this argument - that Bush actually cares about being impeached or going to prison. Because if he doesn't care, then he'll cheerfully accept impeachment and prison rather than meet Democratic demands.

And that's where Hoyer's insane idea of granting immunity to telephone companies comes into play.

If Bush doesn't care about impeachment or prison, the executives of the telephone companies sure as hell do care about their civil and criminal liability for violating FISA, because each of them could be fined and imprisoned for each violation their companies committed.

And the millions of shareholders of the telephone companies sure as hell do care because their companies could be bankrupted by FISA civil suits.

And between the executives and shareholders of the telephone companies, they could damn well persuade Bush to accept whatever terms the Democrats demand.

So with all of this incredible leverage in the palm of his hands, what is Hoyer proposing to do with it?

He wants to use it to get Bush to sign a bill that no one in America wants Democrats to pass or Bush to sign!!! 

The American people are perfectly happy with FISA as it existed until Democrats gutted it in August by passing the Protect Wiretappers Act under the false threat of a terrorist attack - which itself was a criminal act by the Bush Administration. 

But while the August law was loathsome, its only saving grace was a 6 month expiration date, at which point the strict terms of FISA would again become the law. So Americans would be much better off if Congress did nothing now and simply let the Protect Wiretappers Act expire.  

But instead of doing nothing, Hoyer wants to get on his knees to beg Bush to sign a bill that nobody wants, and use his ace-in-the-hole to make him sign it!

Steny Hoyer practiced law for 15 years. If he doesn't understand the leverage he has in his hands, he should not only be thrown out of Congress - he should be tarred and feathered by every freedom-loving voter in America.

And if Congressional Democrats support Hoyer's insanity, they should meet the very same fate.