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Audacity of Truth
Flyswatter in Chief:
"He had this fly that was persistently buzzing around him during the interview...he swatted his hand and he said ‘I got the sucker’...it was a, you know, Dirty Harry ‘make my day’ moment."- The NYT's John Harwood, describing Obama's killing of a fly - 6/16/09
Admin briefs Congress on NSA surveillance
Via the WaPo:
Responding to congressional pressure from both parties, the White House agreed yesterday to give lawmakers more information about its domestic surveillance program, although the briefings remain highly classified and limited in scope.
Despite the administration’s overture, several prominent Republicans said they will pursue legislation enabling Congress to conduct more aggressive oversight of the National Security Agency’s warrantless monitoring of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails. Recent disclosure of the four-year-old program has alarmed civil libertarians and divided the GOP, with many Republicans defending the operation and others calling for more information and regulation.
Yesterday, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and former NSA director Michael V. Hayden briefed the House intelligence committee, behind closed doors, for nearly four hours. The panel “was given some additional procedural information to provide a fuller understanding of how carefully tailored and monitored this program is,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
I’ve noticed that the media is desperately trying to spin this issue as one of ‘equal concern’ amongst Republicans and Democrats in Congress and of ’special concern to Republicans’ (the above is a prime example of that tactic) when in reality it is the Democrats who are raising the biggest stink about this while a handful of Republicans do their duty in responding to those concerns by asking more questions while noting dutifully that they have a few of their own. Don’t be fooled by the media spin.
The AP’s report of this story provided a quote (that wasn’t included in the WaPo’s story *surprise!*) from the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee’s oversight subcommittee:
At least one Democrat left saying he had a better understanding of legal and operational aspects of the anti-terrorist surveillance program. But he said he still had a number of questions.
“It’s a different program than I was beginning to let myself believe,” said Alabama Rep. Bud Cramer, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee’s oversight subcommittee.
“This may be a valuable program,” Cramer said, adding that he didn’t know if it was legal. “My direction of thinking was changed tremendously.”
I think what’s going to happen here is that when all the smoke has cleared, that there won’t be any attempt by Congress to stop the NSA surveillance program – we’ll just have more oversight …. which is what this debate (that should have taken place behind closed doors, instead of being hashed out in the media) really should have been about in the first place, rather than the sometimes-not-so-subtle implications of the usual suspects that the President was sitting behind his desk greedily abusing his power to protect this country in a time of war.
Others blogging about this: Captain Ed, Dafydd at Big Lizards
PM Update: Is all this Congressional brouhaha over the NSA surveillance program nothing more than an attempt at a power grab by Congress? The Wall Street Journal argues that it is (Hat tip: Decision ‘08)
Related Toldjah So posts:
- Thomas Sowell on the NSA ’scandal’ controversy
- NSA ’scandal’ fallout: convicted terrorist conspirators wanting cases thrown out
- Intelligence officials: NSA leak has undermined ability to fight terrorism
- On politicizing the Patriot Act and the NSA ’scandal’
- NYT: NSA scandal is worse than WWII Japanese internment camps
- Link between disposable phone sale surge and NSA leak?
- Whistleblower or leaker?
- Joe Klein: How to Stay Out of Power (and undermine the war in the process)
- Why it was important to keep the cat in the bag
- The Rep. Jane Harman flip flop
- NSA initially acted on its own after 9-11
- Investigations begin into the NSA eavesdropping leak
- “… the only thing outrageous about this policy is the outrage itself”
- Michael Barone on the MSM’s ‘eavesdropping’ coverage
- Brief history of warrantless searches
- Past presidents and the NSA
- Bill Clinton and the NSA
- WSJ: “Thank you for wiretapping”
- The Prez fires back
- Prez essentially says ‘let me do my job’
- The undermining of this war
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“when in reality it is the Democrats who are raising the biggest stink about this while a handful of Republicans do their duty in responding to those concerns by asking more questions while noting dutifully that they have a few of their own.”
Have you met Heather Wilson (R-NM)?
Just wait, I can guarantee that what was briefed to the committee will show up in the NYT or some other partisan rag any day now. I half-way believe that the admin briefed this just to demonstrate that Congress leaks like a sieve. Not that anyone in the admin seems to take this seriously enough to nail some of these leakers to the wall (there may be hope if they investigations reveal who leaked this originally, but given the failure to prosecute people who violate security in the past doesn’t give me much hope).
I think it’s past time we hang some of these wankers who leak national security secrets. As it is, there’s no downside to leaking. If we had a few congressional heads on spikes out in front of the justice dept, I believe things would be taken more seriously.
Bush to give details
In it is this:
In a scheduled speech Thursday about the war on terror, President Bush will focus on a foiled attack in 2002 in which plotters planned to use hijacked commercial airplanes to strike the West Coast.
Bush has referred to the plot before, but White House officials said he planned to provide more specifics in a speech Thursday.
The president will speak this morning at 9:55 a.m. ET at the National Guard Memorial Building in Washington.
In an address last October, Bush said the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts.
Well as I said before this is a national security issue. As long as some American citizen doesn’t get jammed up with a non-terrorist related crime I’ve got no problem with what the NSA is doing. Shoot these cats make 6 figueres a year and they act like children half the time. I think we need more engineers and fewer lawyers in the Congress.
The Alabama congressman summed it up well. Congress just wants more power. Good lord.
Tommy, on that you and I can totally agree.
If members of both political parties want to prevent the executive branch from using Constitutional powers, they must move to make an amendment to the Constitution.
‘Legal’ is a decision left to the court, and may be determined by a single swing vote. The Constitution is a document that has been ratified by the people of the United States (not foreign opinion)whereby EVERY voter gets a chance to make his/her opinion known.
Congress cannot pass a law to make themselves more powerful.
bush broke the law, he said he broke the law and he said that he would continue to break the law. Carter, who should know, agreed with bush that he had broken the law. bush needs to be impeached for the good of the republic. Tommy nyc, you don’t believe that your a Liberal do you? Peace
steve, what is bringing on your hysterics this time. Carter is going senile.
I notice Carter is silent on Eschelon that Clinton used to domestically spy. Guess when it is a Democrat doing it, that it is ok with you, steve.
Actually Steve I believe I’m a moderate to left wing kind of guy. 43 didn’t break the law on this one bro. On Plame absolutely but that is nowhere near as important as national security. Shoot he can break Laura’s jaw as far as I’m concerned to keep his citizens safe. 43 is a bas president IMHO but Carter was worse………. much worse if I had a choice between recklessness(Bush 43) or timidness (Carter) I’d have to go with 43…………..which is a shame because 43 isn’t doing a lot of things right.
Don’t sell your freedom for a little security, nyc. And a moderate man did not invent fire, it was a guy on the Left fringe beating rocks together. It could have been a guy on the Right but he was too scared to leave the cave and go out into the light. Peace
I’m with Severian…if this program is going to be described in any detail to members of Congress, it is effectively dead in the water. It’s not just the committee members that get to see this stuff; it’s their staff as well, so all totalled, we’re talking dozens, perhaps hundreds of people. And as soon as somebody with an axe to grind against the President spots something, ANYTHING that can cast the administration in a bad light, they’ll go straight to the press with it.
I like the idea of feeding false information to the committee, just to see where it finally shows up. But then they’d accuse the administration of lying to the committee — which would be true, of course — and the larger issue of intelligence leaks would be lost in the brouhaha.
[Sorry for feeding the troll, folks, but I can't resist.]
Steve, I would ask you to provide some documentation to support your allegation that the President admitted to “breaking the law,” but I won’t…because you don’t have any. Because he never said that.
There’s a disconnect between the President’s and Congress’s understanding of the extent of his powers to wage war. That’s what this is about. FISA was written long before cell phones enjoyed widespread use and was never intended to impinge on the President’s ability to conduct intelligence-gathering operations against our enemies. Who could have foreseen the sorts of advances in technology that would make the FISA provisions for obtaining warrants too cumbersome to be effective?
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that a) there is ZERO evidence to date that the President or NSA used this program in any manner other than the narrow purpose for which it was intended; b) if they HAD abused it, it would have been leaked by now; c) the program was used for the purpose of fighting those who have sworn to do harm to us. Nobody in Congress thus far has suggested shutting down the program.
I feel your pain, man. This thing isn’t turning out to be the big scandal you hoped it would be. I understand that for you and your liberal buddies, that’s just eating you up inside. Let it go, Steve…okay? Bush Derangement Syndrome is treatable; there are medications for these sorts of things. And if you live here in Atlanta, I know a good therapist. Is it okay if he’s a Republican? Because I’m pretty sure he is.
The 3:58 post was comical. Thanks for the chuckle anyway.
You could at least say one wrong inconsequential detail to each member of Congress to see who leaks it so that the inconsequential detail would not be something that would get anyone in trouble for lying. Let’s see we could have fun with that….
The administration could mention some of the following inconsequential details to find out who is the leaker:
1) That one of the phone tapped people lived in hollywood.
2) That one of the phone tapped people bet on the Steelers game
3) That one of the phone tapped people read DK everyday
4) That one of the phone tapped people was a vegan
5) That one of the phone tapped people lives in Washington D.C.
This from a guy on the left who’s too afraid to allow cartoons to be printed. when you sell your rights for a little security as you do by bowing to muslim ultimatums, you completely lose your right to say other people are ’selling their freedom’.
It is not a baseless accusation that the people on the extreme left are wimps. It’s proven time and again by your actions, and by people like you. If a caveman on the far left started beating rocks together, a catterpillar angry about the noise would be enough to send him running for the hills.
Uh, that came across as more aggressive than I meant it to. Please accept my apologies Steve, and know that there is no reason for you to run for the hills.
Debra Burlingame talks to Mark Levin. Text at Expose the Left.