General Michael Hayden was the architect of more than one illegal program in the National Security Agency to spy on the private lives of huge numbers of completely innocent Americans without any form of the judicial approval required by the Constitution. Hayden helped President George W. Bush break the law. Yet, at the end of last week, the majority of Democrats in the United States Senate voted to confirm Hayden to become the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In effect, the Democrats who voted for Hayden voted to endorse Bush’s programs to spy on the personal lives of American citizens.

Only fourteen Democrats had the sufficient integrity to vote against the criminal acts of Michael Hayden. They are:

Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Ed Kennedy (D-MA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)

The other Democrats in the United States Senate have a lot of explaining to do.