I think Jay Rockefeller would beg to differ

January 12, 2006

Bush defended his warrantless-search program yesterday and touched on one of the White House’s key talking points: congressional oversight.

“We have briefed the leadership of the United States Congress, both Republican and Democrat, as well as the leaders of the intelligence committees, both Republicans and Democrats, about the nature of this program. We gave them a chance to express their disapproval or approval of a limited program taking known al Qaeda numbers — numbers from known al Qaeda people — and just trying to find out why the phone calls are being made.” (emphasis added)

Most of this is boilerplate, but that one phrase — “we gave them a chance to express their disapproval or approval” — is new. And completely wrong.

The administration did “brief” lawmakers as the president explained, but some of them balked at the scope of Bush’s warrantless-search program. In particular, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, had serious reservations and believed there were “profound oversight issues.” While Bush said lawmakers like Rockefeller could “express their disapproval,” Rockefeller instead said he was “unable to evaluate, much less endorse these activities.”

About a month ago, Rockefeller explained:

“For the last few days, I have witnessed the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General repeatedly misrepresent the facts.

“The record needs to be set clear that the Administration never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to either approve or disapprove the NSA program.”

There was no oversight, and the “briefings” were little more than cursory, incomplete notifications to a handful lawmakers whose concerns were rendered irrelevant.

In light of the new White House standards for dissent, what am I allowed to call the president’s comments yesterday? A “fib”? A “tall tale”?

No, those represntations are irresponsible.

Perhaps you could call it a brilliant ploy to confuse the enimies of America perfomed beautifully by our Dear Leader.

Why does the 4th amendment to the Constitution hate America?

  • Let’s be blunt here. The Dems are a bunch of pansies if they can’t come out and call GWB or VP Cheney ‘liars’ on *something*; we know for fact that there are any number of topics from which to choose; let one of the Dems be the sacrificial lamb and expose himself to the counter-attack from the GWB apologists. The fact is, it would still get the story out – any story – and put it in the binary positions; either you believe GWB is a liar or not. I think if the Dems chose a topic and went whole hog, they would pierce the teflon coated armor around this Administration.

    The Social Security scam in which GWB neglected to point out the trillion dollar, solvency threatening price tag.

    The Medicare drug plan dishonesty.

    Any of several angles on Iraq.

    They must specifically use the ‘l’ word on the record and loudly for it to be picked up in every media outlet.

  • Exactly – people need to come out and call them “liars”.

    You’d think “misrepresent the facts” is clear enough, but it obviously doesn’t get headlines.

  • Obviously, what it is called is “truthiness.” Thankfully Stephen Colbert is helping our language keep up with (or down with) this disgraceful administration.

  • C’mon, CB, everyone here knows what to call Bush and the Rethugs on this and just about everything else: Lying.Fucking.Bastards.

    If people don’t want to use such strong language, then how about: Nazis.

    It is entirely clear that Bush is running amok, destroying our civil liberties, bankrupting the treasury, and stifling dissent while labeling his opponents as traitors. It is fascism, pure and simple. Yet, our CCCP (Compliant Complicit Corporate Press) continues to play it — even the Pew Center — as a “he said, she said” debate.

    This would be constitutional crisis if only the CCCP would recognize it in something other than sporting terms, and if the Rethugs hadn’t already sold their souls for a share of corrupt power. There IS no crisis; we have crossed the Rubicon, and there is no way back. America will never be the beacon in the night that the Statue of Liberty once represented; instead, we have become the Soviet Union, adding more and more “satelite countries” in our sphere of influence.

    Nazis; Rethugs; Lying.Fucking.Bastards. There really is no difference anymore.

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