Two Big Administration Victories
The Patriot Act will be renewed, with most of the provisions becoming permanent. This is a huge win for the Administration, and a failure of leadership for the Democratic Party, which still lacks the backbone to stand for its convictions in an election year for fear of being labelled ‘soft’ on terror.
Speaking of, what is going on with the NSA surveillance kerfuffle? Glenn Greenwald and those who hoped to turn this story into a modern Watergate must be in anguish tonight, as victory is very close for the Administration on this issue, as well:
Senate Republicans on Tuesday agreed to expand oversight of President George W. Bush’s domestic spying program but rejected Democratic pressure for a broad inquiry into eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.
Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the committee voted to create a new seven-member subcommittee that would scrutinize the eavesdropping under a plan approved by the White House.
To further seal the deal, the Administration continues to pursue explicit legislative authorization with the help of Republicans:
In addition, the White House has begun discussions with several Republican lawmakers on legislative language that could further regulate the program.
“I believe the president is prepared to sign a bill once the Congress does work its will,” Roberts told reporters after a closed-door committee meeting.
“When it comes to national security, I prefer accommodation over confrontation whenever possible. We should fight the enemy. We should not fight each other.”
Four Senate Republicans, all critics of the program, proposed a plan that would authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a warrant for 45 days but require the White House to justify every decision to continue beyond that timeframe.
The legislative proposal, titled the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, also would force the eavesdropping program to cease after five years unless renewed by Congress.
Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, one of the four Republicans pressing for legislation, said the proposal was backed by Roberts and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and accepted “in broad concept” by the White House.
Greenwald and company have almost all of their eggs in one basket now – that of Arlen Specter and his Judiciary Committee, virtually the only obstacle remaining to a complete collapse of official opposition.
While we’re on the subject, James Bamford writes in the upcoming Atlantic Monthly (subscription required) that ‘wiretapping’ is a misnomer, where the NSA is concerned:
Contrary to popular perception, the NSA does not engage in “wiretapping”; it collects signals intelligence, or “sigint.” In contrast to the image we have from movies and television of an FBI agent placing a listening device on a target’s phone line, the NSA intercepts entire streams of electronic communications containing millions of telephone calls and e-mails. It runs the intercepts through very powerful computers that screen them for particular names, telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and trigger words or phrases. Any communications containing flagged information are forwarded by the computer for further analysis.
AJ took a look at Bamford’s article, and came away singularly unimpressed….
House approves Patriot Act, Senate rejects broad NSA inquiry
Now it’s on to W for to sign:
WASHINGTON – Congress was poised to send President Bush a renewal of the Patriot Act Tuesday night after months of bitter fighting, authorizing law enforcement to keep its anti-terror tools but with some new cu…
Rumors of the Death of the Patriot Act
Rest well, Americans. The legislation helping to keep us safe and terrorist act-free these last 4.5 years cruised through the House today like a resolution honoring apple pie.
Intelligence Committee votes not to investigate NSA eavesdropping
Left leaning libertarians and leftwing nutcases are dissapointed. But nobody is suprised that The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee rejected a proposal to investigate the Bush administration’s NSA program.
Via Washington Post
“I believ…
The obscene farce continues, unabated. Chief Fascist Republican swine Karl Rove faxes Congress with his orders of the day, and every gooper follows in precise formation, goose-stepping their way to the total destruction of the Constitution, and the now outdated concepts of judicial review and congressional oversight. An imperial presidency is now upon us.
And the reaction of the electorate?
Well, guess what. Cheney’s polls aren’t as bad as they were made out to be. It appears now that the drunken shooting spree in Texas has NOT seriously affected fat ass’s standing, nor diminished in any way his firm grip on the short hairs of congressmen. Oversee the secret spying? Forget it.
There should be outrage, but there isn’t, except in the liberal blogs and we all know what that means. Karl has permanently redefined the term, so now we have to scramble around and find a new label, like progressive. Well, all right. Fine. I’m now a progressive.
This lack of public outrage is a very bad sign. I fear for America. It is being destroyed step-by-step, and the solid fascist swine “base” remains locked at 40 percent or thereabouts.
I say again, and I’ll keep repeating it. Any American who votes in November for a Republican is a goddamned TRAITOR.
John Palcewski
http://forioscribe.livejournal.com
Thank you for that reasoned contribution to the debate here. I’ll take your opinion into consideration as I cast my overwhelmingly Republican ballot in November…
The Senate’s apparent refusal to do anything substantive about the NSA issue is a victory for Bush only in the partisan sense. Pat Roberts earlier had refused to allow his committee to hold hearings on how the administration used pre-war intelligence, despite promises to do so. His refusal to allow hearings on the NSA issue is not a surprise.
One of the legislative proposals is to retroactively exculpate the administration for violating the FISA requirements. Sort of like robbing a bank, and then walking free when the legislature decides that robbing banks is OK after all.
More broadly, it shows the inevitable result of a single party controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, as the oversight role of Congress becomes a charade. The GOP Congress had no problem putting the nation’s business on hold to impeach Bill Clinton, but when George Bush is involved in far more serious matters — misusing intelligence to launch a war and violating existing law — everything is swept under the rug.
Yes, well, when I say a victory for Bush, the partisan sense is implied. Your take, while certainly one many reasonable people agree with, is predicated on the belief that, as you put it, “Bush misused intelligence to launch a war and violated existing law”. If a person disagrees with one or both of those assertions, then obviously a different interpretation results.
As to the single party control – blame the voters, not Bush or the GOP. Your beef is with the American people there…
Well, of course you are correct, the voters elected Republicans and you get the government you deserve.
However, it would be nice if Congress was serious about its oversight responsibilities and had hearings to determine wheter “Bush misused intelligence to launch a war and violated existing law.” Abdicating this responsibility to avoid embarrassing the administration is the sign of a spineless and “do-nothing” Congress.
The problem with your theory – and Greenwald’s – in my view is this: you and he paint the Republican Congress as shills for the White House – but that’s not the case. I have a theory that better fits the facts that I intend to expound on in a later post…
The problem is our electoral system is becoming outdated. Maybe its time to switch from SMD to proportional representation. I bet the makeup of the government would be drastically different.
If the Senate was picked by proportional representation (e.g., California gets more Senate votes than Nebraska), there would be a shift to a Democratic majority there –
Yes, and thank God it isn’t – the genius of the founding fathers was to realize that the leadership of the country should not be determined by one or two population centers at the expense of the vast, vast interior…