It doesn’t have to be a partisan fight

December 21, 2005

Some have suggested, inside the White House and out, that the debate over Bush’s warrantless-spying program is partisan in nature. Bush wants to sidestep judicial oversight while eavesdropping on phone calls and Dems and their liberal allies aren’t happy about. This misses the fact that plenty on the right are plenty concerned about what’s transpired.

* On the Hill — On Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) expressed serious concern about the spy program and vowed to hold hearings after lawmakers reconvene in the new year. Over the weekend, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested Bush exceeded his authority and may have circumvented the law. Yesterday, Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) joined three Senate Dems in demanding a full-scale congressional investigation into the domestic-surveillance program.

* Among the scholars — Bruce Fein, a conservative constitutional scholar and former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration, said yesterday that the president is flouting the Constitution and may have committed an impeachable offense. Norm Ornstein, a conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, echoed Fein, saying, “I think if we’re going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed.”

* Former administration officials — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell questioned the president’s conduct on ABC’s Nightline, saying, “My own judgment is that — it didn’t seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go and get the warrants [through FISA]. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it [begin surveillance]. The law provides for that. And three days later, you let the court know what you have done, and deal with it that way.”

* Former Republican lawmakers — Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) was nearly apoplectic about Bush’s conduct, suggesting the president “deliberately order[ed] that federal law be violated,” and “ignored” the Constitution.

* The conservative blogosphere — Though plenty of right-wing supporters of the president are rallying to his defense, a few conservatives who usually back Bush, including Neil Boortz and Jon Henke, believe the administration went too far with this program.

There’s no reason this controversy has to be about partisanship, and it’s encouraging to see some Republicans acknowledge this. There are plenty of hacks out there, but when it comes to this controversy, the right is not unified behind Bush.

We’re talking about a situation in which the president exceeded his authority and circumvented the law. It’s not about left vs. right; it’s about right vs. wrong.

Indeed. There’s ample opportunity for agreement and concerted action here.

  • Are we witnessing the begining of the end of the BushCheney
    regime? It would be a delightful situation if it were true.
    The cards are stacked against them this time. Even their own
    ratfink friends are turning on them. Even members of the right wing
    draw the line at internal spying on American citizens.
    With the Fitzgerald investigations of Libby, the Delay case,
    the Ohio vote-rigging scandal, the Katrina fiasco, and the
    Abramoff investigation all going on at the same time it looks
    like 2006 is going to resemble 1974 in more ways than one.
    It couldn’t be happening to a more deserving bunch of crooks, could it?

  • Even George Will penned an article today with the headline “Bush wrong to OK spying without going to courts, Congress”.

    I would agree that this is NOT a partisan issue. This is an issue every American should be concerned about. It is essentially about our laws, our Constitution and our democratic processes. If the president subverts any of them, it should be a concern to all.

    Oh, and did I mention… I-M-P-E-A-C-H

  • “It is okay during time of war,” according to Bush and his flunkies’ but didn’t he also say the war on” terrists” will go on for years. So its okay to break the law for years?

  • right dukkop!

    and what about the drug war, and the war on poverty… well maybe not the war on poverty with these guys. Unless you count pushing more people into poverty.

  • It’s not about left vs. right; it’s about right vs. wrong.

    True and not true:

    True because we would like to think the Constitution should always trump party politics.

    Not true because for wingnuts all that matter is power.

    Here is a simple thought experiment that proves my point:

    Imagine Bill Clinton had done the illegal wiretapping.
    Do you agree that the wingnuts would be screaming bloody murder to have him hung by his penis?

  • There’s no reason this controversy has to be about partisanship, and it’s encouraging to see some Republicans acknowledge this. There are plenty of hacks out there, but when it comes to this controversy, the right is not unified behind Bush.

    Ummm, Mr. Carpetbagger, apropos of your earlier post, should we anticipate seeing Mr. Whittman, aka The Moose, write something on this subject?

    I’m guessing not.

  • anthony v. cuccia,

    “Even members of the right wing draw the line at internal spying on American citizens”

    Actually internal spying on American citizens isn’t the problem here. The administration can do all the internal spying on American citizens it wants to as long as there is a warrant. They don’t even have to get the warrant before they begin the spying. They have a few days to go back and get the warrant after they started the spying.

    The problem here is that it was decided that either:

    a) It’s just too much effort to bother going to get a warrant for something that’s already done.

    or

    b) A warrant would never be approved for the spying because there wasn’t enough information to justify it.

    If the answer is “a” then the administration is horribly lazy when it comes to protecting American citizens and preventing the possibility of abuse of power (soft on crime?)

    If the answer is “b” then there is a significant abuse of power. (criminal intent?)

    Obviously since it’s a GOP administration that is responsible for this they can’t possibly be soft on crime *snark*, therefore the only possible explanation is criminal intent.

    This is why everyone is (or at least should be) so outraged by what has happened here. It’s not about the spying, it’s about the possible reasons that it was decided not to get a warrant even afterwards.

    – Danny

  • I wish that this will not end up to be a partisan debate, but everything with these guys is about partisanship. Any Republicans disagreeing with Bush will be either ignored or marginalized. On Catherine Crier the other day a right-wing talk show gas bag was characterizing this as a liberal media attack on the President. Crier was very angry, saying that this was an issue that transcended parties and pointed out that Specter called for hearings. The wind bag responded that Specter is not really a conservative.

  • On the much more important issue, the
    invasion of Iraq, the Dems dropped their
    partisan mode and came on board –
    unfortunately, the wrong train, but they
    did it.

    Now why can’t the Repubs reciprocate,
    and do what’s right?

    But they won’t. Just a few snarls, and
    this issue goes down into oblivion like
    all the rest.

  • Probably the most we can hope for — excluding the possibility of a Dem win in ’06 — is censure. A carefully-worked-out censure which doesn’t make the Admin look too-too bad.

  • The Republicans in Congress, if they have any sense, are going to go for impeachment.

    If Bush continues to eavesdrop anyone in the US, he will surely go after Democrats in Congress. Any guilty secrets (infidelity, sexual foibles) can be used either to blackmail them into voting his way or for smear campaigns at election time (real smears instead of Rovian inventions).

    But he’ll also go after Republicans in Congress. They’re more prone to infidelity, sexual foibles and very much more prone to corruption. So they too will be under his control.

    At that point, Bush no longer has to overdose John Yoo on LSD to get bizarre legal constructions of legislation and the Constitution that apparently justify whatever Bush wants to do. At that point Bush can get legislation passed for whatever he wishes.

    Worse, if he controls enough in Congress and enough in three-fourths of state legislatures, he can amend the Constitution any way he wants. Goodbye XXIInd Amendment, hello President-for-life Dubya-the-first.

    The GOP in Congress may put up a united front, but none of them want to be Dubya’s finger puppets. Anyway, Dubya would probably want a hefty percentage of any corrupt deals they’re involved in.

    It’s no good passing legislation. Bush bends it, twists it, breaks it, or just ignores it. FISA alone should have stopped him doing what he did.

    Once the GOP realize all this, they’ll impeach. They have to do it before Bush gets enough blackmail material on them or they’ll never be able to do it. I think Specter and a few others understand this, but it might be worth writing your GOP congresscritters explaining this all to them. Once one of them understands things, he’ll explain it to the others. And then impeachment will be very quick. Oh, and non-partisan. 🙂

  • I agree that this need not be a totally partisan issue.

    In my mind, there are two “Republican Parties.” The vast majority of them, the Delays, Frists and their ilk are Rethugs. The Olympia Snowes, Chuck Hagels and their ilk are Republicans.

    As a dyed in the wool Independent, I don’t mind Republicans. I don’t often agree with them, but I find them reasonable and not in the least scary. They do not have a discernable fascist bent. They have a healthy respect for the rule of law, and many, like Bob Barr, are libertarian, and I like that, even though I could not bear to even look at Barr during the Clinton catastrophe.

    I would be willing to bet that every Democrat or moderate Republican, at the very least, suspects that their phone calls or emails may have been looked at at one time or another. After all, these same knotheads wire-tapped the U.N. Security Council.

    Governor Richardson believes he was tapped and the information was given to John Bolton. Richardson doesn’t strike me as a paranoid type.

    I am certain that news media types are wondering how secure their conversations or e-mails are.

    Actually, it is probably the activsts.and major dissenters who are not in the least bit surprised, though outraged and rightly so, because Bush chose to go around the law and congress, which had explicitly indicated to him that he was not going to get the powers of a Roman Emperor… Caligula, springs to mind..

    Truth be told, the Democrats and the moderate Republicans have a nearly impossible battle ahead of them without massive support from the people. This is an election year; a year during which the nobility actually listens to the people.

    I would like to see all of the Peace Groups come together and oganize a citizen’s occupation of Wahington, D.C.and keep a large presence there until justice is done.

    We don’t have to march, carry signs or have a bandstand. All we have to do is show up and sit down, on the National Mall, which belongs to all of us.right in front of the capital. Bring tents and sleeping bags. Demand acountability.

    I think it can be done, and done with the dignity that the dying of Democracy demands.

    A gathering presence in the most powerful capital on Earth, which has, apparently, gone mad.

    The only real cure for creeping fascism is for the people to rise up, very publically and demand that their government function in the way it is required to,by the constitution.

    That means that there needs to be a Resolution of Inquiry now. Impeachment Hearings must be held and we will not leave until they are.

    It is do or die time, my fellow Americans. Speak now. There may not be a tomorrow. At the rate Bush is going, we may have no first amendment privileges at all before too much longer..

  • Eloquent words from Trammell but I fear it’s too late. After Dear Leader’s recent utterances on his Imperial Right to spy upon anyone, anytime ,anyplace, it’s game over. Nobody said boo. There was a time when the citizenry would have been outraged, in the days when democracy was valued. Good folk nowadays are too concerned about the “War On Christmas”, and other liberal atrocities, to entertain the notion that Dear Leader is a Constitutional criminal in need of impeachment. In 2006 Joe Citizen is gonna wake up with a bad hangover on the national Park Bench, with a quarter clasped in his palm, and a sore ass.

  • Finally people are starting to wake up to the fascist menace that this man and his retinue of imps represents – and which the “liberal” left has been screaming about for the last 5 years.

    Impeach yes, but Cheney must go first, or it’s all a waste of energy and a diversion from the real culprit of the Gestapo policies of this administration.

  • What will we tell the childen? that it is allright to spy and read their E-mails? as along as the president says he’s fighting (the war on terror?). Courts and constitution be dammed they are to much trouble to go to. With three years left to spy on american E-mails and telephone calls. Every one is A terror suspect. I pray the supreme court don’t get involved. As they did in the 2000 election ruling for GWB.

  • You cited right-wing commentator Neil Boortz as one who believes the administration went too far this time. However if you carefully read the link you provided he is officially noncommittal while stealthily supporting the Bush actions by putting forth a hypothetical case of the administration not being able to detect terrorists plotting with US operatives by phone were the administration to follow the letter of the law. He conveniently leaves out the FISA provision of allowing the tap first and retroactively getting it approved within 72 hours. During the Clinton years Boortz harped endlessly
    on his contrived nightmare scenario of Democrats stealing all our freedoms. Now that Bush crowd is really starting to do it, he can’t spin too much for them.

  • There is only one solution to these psycho-fascists: Paper Ballots, Hand Counted. Anything else means we’re done as a representative democracy.

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