EXCERPT: "Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland,...

EXCERPT: It was such a ho-hum evening that news customarily relegated to the sidebars has been blown into full-fledged articles.
There was Rex, the only sob in attendance with the bona fides. Rex is famous. He's sniffed out bombs in Iraq, has been the subject of a rider to a defense bill and, last night, enjoyed a coveted seat on the aisle in Laura Bush's cheering section at the State of the Union speech. Let the record show that Rex behaved himself.
Tom DeLay didn't make the...