Brotherhood of the flaming pants

Blogressive December 23, 2005

Brotherhood of the flaming pants

Here's what President George Bush had to say about our civil liberties in April 2004 while he was not obtaining court orders for wiretaps. Are you sitting down?

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

WSJ says "Thank You for Wiretapping"

As if the President needed another reason to say "You're Welcome" to Wall Street, an editorial in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal actually thanked him for eavesdropping on Americans. Entitled – and I'm not making this up – "Thank You for Wiretapping," the editorial said:

"As we learned on 9/11, acting with dispatch can be a matter of life and death. The information gathered in these wiretaps is not for criminal prosecution but solely to deter future attacks. This is precisely the kind of contingency for which Presidential power and responsibility is designed."

But just days after the September 11 attacks The Wall Street Journal described itself as "stalwart civil libertarians" and said:

"The best way to reassure people is to ensure our intelligence and law enforcement agencies at some point make their case to some outside authority. That means defining who they are targeting as well as paying more attention to the specifics of accountability. … And we have no objection to putting a sunset provision on any expanded powers, so they can be reviewed by Congress to see if they've been abused.”

Thank YOU Wall Street Journal for selling us out.

[senatemajorityproject.blogspot.com]

Quotable

"Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities."

Sen. Jay Rockefeller D-WV ina handwritten letter to Dick Cheney, July 17, 2003. talkingpointsmemo.com.

Back and forth

We like to read the comments posted to the stories here at progressive.org. Technically subscribers can rate comments out of view. But it is more fun to see someone make a correction.

Anonymous wrote:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on"Fox News Sunday" :

"I was briefed a couple of months ago. Listen, the program has been in effect, it's been in effect for four years now."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi :

"I was advised of President Bush's decision to provide authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities shortly after he made it (2002) and have been provided with updates on several occasions."

Can somebody explain why they didn't worry about that then?

"EP" responed with the entire Pelosi statement in it's proper context:

EP wrote:

Pelosi Statement on President Bush’s Authorization of National Security Agency’s Activities

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on President Bush’s December 17, 2005 radio address during which he disclosed that he had provided authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities. The President also disclosed that leaders of Congress had been briefed on his action.

We all agree that the President must have the best possible intelligence to protect the American people, but that intelligence must be produced in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution and our laws. The President’s statement today raises serious questions as to what the activities were and whether the activities were lawful.

I was advised of President Bush’s decision to provide authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities shortly after he made it and have been provided with updates on several occasions.

The Bush Administration considered these briefings to be notification, not a request for approval. As is my practice whenever I am notified about such intelligence activities, I expressed my strong concerns during these briefings.

http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases.cfm?pressReleaseID=...

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