Cooper then writes:

There are not a lot of signs, though, that Holder will be able to finish on a high note.

In terms of public perception, that may be correct. He's pretty much cornered himself into a box. While attempting to disassociate himself from the subpoenas for journalist's phone records, he's now faced with demands from agencies like the NSA to initiate criminal investigations into who leaked the secret FISA Court Order to the Guardian and Glenn Greenwald.

We now know that leaks are investigated, rightly or wrongly, with seizure of records of the reporters who dealt with the leakers. Holder insists journalists aren't the target, but what difference does that make, when they are the vehicle used to get the goods on the leaker. They may only be a secondary target, and there may be no present intent to charge the leakee (person who received the information from the leaker), but that doesn't make Greenwald or Rosen any less a "target."

When the Patriot Act was passed, I used to write that Congress is trying to instill the fear of terrorism in the heart of every American. If you've ever had a computer or mobile phone stolen, or your house broken into, think how violated that made you feel. I suspect that's the same feeling one gets when told that the Government has obtained all his or her phone records, social media account postings, contact list and interactions, and locations visited, online and in person. It's a feeling t