Here is an excerpt of the NY Times' hysterical editorial on the legislation passed by the House yesterday dealing with terrorist detainees:

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.

....

Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error.

First, how does the Times editorial board know that any of the remaining detainees were "captured in error"? (Hundreds have been released already, after receiving hearings, a point the Times ignores.) They provide no basis for their assertions.

Second, note that "normal people" agree with the Times editors, and presumably "abnormal people" are those who agree with the president and a majority of the members of Congress. How open-minded.

Seemingly, according to the Times and their fellow Democrats, we must give foreign enemy combatants and terrorists the same rights as American citizens, or we're barbarians and totalitarians - there is no middle ground at all. That seems to be the position of those on the left. Lay one finger on the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and it's "torture." Deny any legal protection granted to citizens of the U.S., and it's "un-American", an affront to the Constitution. (How dare they question our patriotism!)

Also notice it's always those nasty Republicans who are engaging in politics (Imagine! politicians engaging in politics!); Democrats, including the Democrats who write editorials for the Times, never engage in politics. Right.

Others:
The Washington Post, also not a bastion of conservative thought, reports on the legislation here.