“Bush Authorized Domestic Spying”

[erik_kosberg]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6541.html

How did the hearing on warrantless searches begin this morning? With a fight over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should testify under oath. Big surprise — every Republican on the Judiciary Committee agreed that he should not be sworn in, while every Dem argued he should be. Since Republicans outnumber the Dems, Gonzales is testifying now without being under oath.

[rmthunter]

I guess there's a lot of Republicans in Congress who really want to retire.

[erik_kosberg]

I don't understand why Democratic Senators are participating in this farce. Why not simply walk out of the room?

[drmomentum[$]]

Hey, it's the only farce we've got!

-JP

[brian_igo]

Digby nails it:

The Eunuch Caucus

by digby

I've been digesting this morning's hearings and I am dumbstruck by the totality of the Republicans' abdication of their duty. These men who spent years running on Madisonian principles ("The essence of government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse") now argue without any sense of irony or embarrassment that Republican Senators are nothing more than eunuchs in President Bush's political harem. They have voluntarily rendered the congress of the United States impotent to his power.

I've watched this invertebrate GOP caucus since 2000 as they submitted themselves to this lawless administration again and again, shredding every bit of self respect, every figment of institutional pride, every duty to the constitution. The look in their eyes, which is somehow interpreted as strong and defiant by the equally servile media, is actually a window to empty little men who have given up their manhood to oblige their master. The only reward they seek is unfettered access to the taxpayers money for their own use.

We are looking at fifty-five of the most powerful people in the country. Collectively the Republican Senators represent almost a hundred and fifty million citizens. And they have allowed a callow little boy like George W. Bush along with his grey eminineces Karl Rove and Dick Cheney to strip them of their consciences, their principles and their constitutional obligations. What sad little creatures, cowardly and subservient, unctuously bowing and scraping before Karl Rove the man who holds their (purse) strings and dances them around the halls of congress singing tributes to their own irrelevance at the top of their lungs. How pathetic they are.

Barry Goldwater is rolling over in his grave.

[brian_igo]

If you're innocent, you have nothing to hide. So what do you have to be afraid of?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

[erik_kosberg]

http://thismodernworld.com/2674

This really is quite remarkable — the Attorney General of the United States is offering the sort of justification that you’d expect to get from some not-very-bright right wing blogger.

[drmomentum[$]]

I spent the day at home, sick, on the couch. I watched about half of the coverage.

It was pretty amazing to literally keep hearing senators tell the AG, basically, that maybe it was best for nobody to know that the president is doing, including them.

And my jaw dropped when Gonzales basically said to Sen. Feinstein that Bush didn't know what he was talking about when he said the US gets a warrant for all its wiretaps. (To be completely accurate, he first claimed the president meant a specific type of wiretap, even though the president's statement was clear that "Anytime you hear the United States government
talking about a wiretap, it requires--a wiretap requires a court order." but when pressed he ended up on "the president isn't a lawyer.")

Never got a good answer re: why they were doing this, what sort of oversight there was, what they did with the information when they made a mistake, whether they'd ever made a mistake, or how many times it had been used.

-JP

[erik_kosberg]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/26336

Senator Russ Feingold said

This administration reacts to anyone who questions this illegal program by saying that those of us who demand the truth and stand up for our rights and freedoms somehow has a pre-9/11 world view. In fact, the President has a pre-1776 world view. Our government has three branches, not one. And no one, not even the President, is above the law.

[erik_kosberg]

The façade begins to crumble.

[erik_kosberg]

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

[erik_kosberg]

"But we don't want to have any kind of debate about whether it's constitutional or not constitutional. "

Well, I guess it's official now. We really are no longer a constitutional democracy.

[drmomentum[$]]

If the majority want something, what do you need a constitution for anyhow?

[brian_igo]

I really think this is going to come back to bite Hagel in the ass. Too bad.

[erik_kosberg]

"... the more fervent the desire to cover up, the more heinous the crime."

[erik_kosberg]

But on a principled level, it's just fascinating to see the Republican divide on this. Some GOP senators believe Bush should be able to eavesdrop on Americans with no limits, while a handful of GOP senators believe Bush should be able to eavesdrop on Americans with almost no limits. They all agree, however, that there should be no investigation of the surveillance program, no accountability for the lawbreaking that's already occurred, and no criticism of the president's conduct by anyone.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6882.html

[erik_kosberg]

"From warrantless surveillance to warrantless physical searches?"

As far as the Bush administration is concerned, it has the legal power and authority to listen to Americans' phone calls, read Americans' emails, and enter Americans' homes — all without a warrant, all without judicial oversight, and all without congressional approval.

[erik_kosberg]

"NSA Scandal Ratchets Up"

In Gonzales's testimony today, he asserted that Bush has the authority to order wiretapping of solely domestic calls.
. . .
He has authorized leaking of classified information for purely political purposes. And now he sends his toady to the Hill to tell Congress he'll happily violate the Constitution.

[rmthunter]

As far as the Bush administration is concerned, it has the legal power and authority to listen to Americans' phone calls, read Americans' emails, and enter Americans' homes — all without a warrant, all without judicial oversight, and all without congressional approval.

I may turn into a 2nd Amendment fanatic yet. I hear Ouzis are reliable.

[pippadaisy[$]]

Did y'all see The Daily Show? Where they pointed out that he claims that the arguments at the Justice Department weren't about THIS program, but something else? "There's a MORE illegal plan we've got going!"

[erik_kosberg]

"Hard to believe."