The GOP’s dangerous duo

America’s Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has revealed the damage that can be wrought by feckless leadership and a single extremist fool with ambitions. Start with the latter: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul forced the expiration of key provisions of the anti-terror Patriot Act under the preposterously false claim that they infringed on freedoms.

Paul wants what he sees as liberties; he’ll give Americans the increased possibility of death. Naturally, he used his obstructionism to fund-raise for his fringe candidacy for the GOP presidential nod.

Say this for Paul, though — the firebrand gave Majority Leader Mitch McConnell clear warning that he intended to kill a bill to refine and reauthorize mass collection of telephone metadata (the numbers that phones are calling), along with other constitutional, court-monitored programs that U.S. intelligence needs to track potential terrorists.

Now for the fecklessness: Despite Paul’s warning, McConnell let the Senate end a week-long vacation just hours before expiration of the Patriot Act provisions. Then, McConnell had no plan for shepherding the urgent legislation through in those essential hours. He was left to cool his heels for a day in hope of Senate action on Tuesday.

Where House Republicans held the economy hostage, McConnell’s Senate let a key security measure lapse, even temporarily, out of a lack of procedural competence.

Now, senators will finally take up the bill, passed by the House, that would keep those crucial provisions while needlessly shifting data collection from the National Security Agency to telecom companies.

Said the White House Sunday: “On a matter as critical as our national security, individual senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly.”

Damn straight.