Congressman Jim McDermott, who cozied up to Saddam Hussein, opposes protecting phone companies from the multibillion dollar lawsuits that trial lawyers have brought against them for assisting the U.S. government in wiretapping communications with foreign terrorists.   But he himself assisted what was akin to wiretapping aimed at a conservative colleague.  Now, he has the chutzpah to depict himself as a First Amendment martyr for doing so, even though a federal appeals court ordered him to pay damages for invasion of privacy.  I earlier discussed why the phone companies deserve statutory protection from the lawsuits against them.