Captain Ed looked at Tom Daschle's WaPo column today, in which the former Senate Minority Leader throws his hat into the NSA wiretap fray by claiming that when Congress passed the war resolution, they did not grant President Bush the authority to use the resources at his disposal domestically.

Daschle helpfully reminds us that what Congress did do was vote

to authorize "all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons [the president] determines planned, authorized, committed or aided" the attacks of Sept. 11. With this language, Congress denied the president the more expansive authority he sought and insisted that his authority be used specifically against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Because, you know, it's only OK for the president to protect us from the people who caused 9/11. There were, are, and never have been any other threats to the nation from terrorists, you see. This is why we've had to listen to Democrats split rhetorical hairs about which terrorists we're allowed fight for the last four years: Al Qaeda in Afghanistan -OK!, Al Qaeda in Iraq - not so fast, there buddy.

Never mind that the two share the same mission statement, so to speak.

The Captain reads Daschle's blather for what it is and takes him directly to the woodshed:

Perhaps Daschle didn't notice, but the entire reason that Congress passed the war resolution was that the United States got attacked -- inside the United States. It's as if that context never occurs to Daschle. We had taken attacks from al-Qaeda on a number of occasions, including on two of our embassies and one of our warships -- both clear cases of casus belli under any terms of war -- and Congress never bothered to act on any of the previous attacks.

You really should just go read the whole thing. It's great.

The Daschle piece, which will soon be taking it's rightful place as birdcage lining across America, demonstrates yet again that the Democrats are uniquely bereft of foresight and hindsight as they pertain to matters of national security. They live only in the present, using those fleeting moments as vehicles from which to undermine the best efforts of the President and Republicans, oblivious, as Ed points out, to context.

The Democrats, unburdened by hindsight, simply continue to weaken national security for political gain. When one idea fails miserably for them, it doesn't matter. It's in the past. It's forgotten.

Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for America, the voters who control their destiny don't forget. For the Democrats, some lessons are simply never learned.