President Bush yesterday took as harsh a one-two beatdown as he has endured in the entire seven cynical, corrupt years of his doomed presidency.

First Silvestre Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent him a damning letter on his stubborn and hypocritical position on FISA. The letter not only outlines the facts of the law and the circumstances surrounding it for those who might only be familiar with the overt lie that Bush has been pandering to the American public, it concludes with a statement of intent that every single Member of Congress would do well to adopt:

I, for one, do not intend to back down â€“ not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear. We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

Hear, hear.

Later, in another of his fire-breathing special comments, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann looked Mr. Bush in the eye and said “you’re a fascist.” Then it got worse, as he administered a nard-stomping that transcended all other special comments in its honesty and clarity. Seriously, you have to see this one for yourself:

I’m not sure what went into Tom Petty’s decision-making as he pondered his set for the Super Bowl halftime show, but I’m glad he settled on “I Won’t Back Down.” No, the song wasn’t written about this administration, but it was appropriate fare for a national audience that has done nothing but back down for the past seven years.

We talk, with an excess of Rambo-esque bravado, about how brave and tough we are as a nation, but what kind of moral courage is really involved in trying to spread “democracy” around the world when we’re not even willing to fight for it at home? And what kind of leader uses massive force to inflict “freedom” on others when he systematically attacks the liberty of his own people?

So today, tomorrow, and from here on out, in the halls of Congress and on the streets of our cities and towns, if I might ask one simple thing of my fellow citizens, it’s this: more show, less tell.