Setting the record wrong

January 5, 2006

Around mid-November, the White House shifted into campaign mode and began issuing “Setting the Record Straight” talking points, all the time, as official White House statements. In the preceding 12 months, the Bush gang issued one of these campaign-style releases. Since Nov. 11, they’ve done nine.

The latest is the Bush gang’s effort to take on the warrantless-spying controversy head on. In other words, this is the White House’s best political shot — critics have had their say and this is the formal response on White House letterhead. If ever these guys were ever going to put a powerful argument out there, this was it.

And yet, they don’t have much.

Right off the bat, the quote at the top of the page is from Scott McClellan, saying, “Critics have stepped up their attacks on the President for authorizing the National Security Agency to listen to international communications of known al Qaeda members or affiliated terrorists during a time of war.” It’s classic nonsense. Critics have questioned whether the president circumvented the law; McClellan’s quote suggests critics don’t want surveillance against terrorists.

Rhetorical foolishness aside, the “Setting the Record Straight” document includes three principal points:

* “The NSA Authorization Is Solely For Intercepting Communications Of Suspected Al Qaeda Members Or Related Terrorist Groups” — Well, maybe it is, that remains to be seen. Regardless, the talking point intentionally misses the point. The administration should intercept every terrorist communication it can; it should also honor the rule of law and allow for some oversight in the process.

* “The NSA Authorization Is Solely For Intercepting International Calls.” — First, this doesn’t explain why the administration circumvented the law. Second, the point appears to be wrong.

* “The Program Provides The Speed And Agility Needed To Prosecute The War On Terror.” — The FISA process allows the administration to engage in surveillance, and get a warrant 72 hours later. That sounds like quite a bit of leeway for “agility.” For that matter, if Bush found the legal process too slow, the answer is to change the law, not ignore it.

This is the White House’s best shot at “setting the record straight”? Is the Bush gang getting lazy or do they just not care anymore?

Sometimes I get so impatient with you Bush doubters. I mean after all, we know he’s a good guy and he’d never do what you believe he’s doing, so we don’t have to provide details, details which might cause a terrorist attack of disastrous proportions which major corporations of this great land might never recover from.

The idea that a man as great as George W. Bush would have to get permission from a court, or check with Capitol Hill, is not only demeaning, it’s nuts. We said “some oversight.” We mean the Vice President who, after all, is the leader of our terrorism task force which has been so effective that it doesn’t meet.

I suggest you people relax, get a life, and stop with these unwarranted intrusions into the business of the White House.

Scott McC.

  • I suggest you people relax, get a life, and stop with these unwarranted intrusions into the business of the White House.

    Yeah, it’s not like he works for us. He has an empire to run! He can’t be bothered with facts and laws…..

  • I’m starting to get really worried. Between the feeble attempts to justify violating the constitution, the recess apppointments, and signing letters that cite the “limitations of judicial authority”, I’m concerned he’s preparing to declare a state of emergency and formally suspend the constitution.

    If he were impeached and convicted, would he leave office? Or would he send troops to the capital? I No longer know the answer to that.

  • Actually I believe that there is even a 15 day post intercept period to obtain “approval” “during times of war.”

  • I’m reading a technothriller by Larry Bonds who is one of those Delta Force type operations groupies. These guys like Tom Clancy are big government boosters. I was reading the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book and felt a bit of nostalgia at patriot naivete. I wonder who would write this now?

    “In no case do real-life personnel or their units operate beond the limits of US law. Nor would any such operations be authorized or condoned by counsel in the employ of the president of the United States, much less the president himself.”

  • This is the White House’s best shot at “setting the record straight”? Is the Bush gang getting lazy or do they just not care anymore?

    Sadly, because they know they are winning with this. The disucssion has been mostly about whether they should spy, not on the fact that they broke the law!

  • A point I haven’t read brought up concerning the new candor we’ve been getting from Bush lately is that Bush negotiated about a week of silence before the Times printed the story about the NSA intercepts. During that time they did a lot of planing and I agree that they’re leading with their best shot at braving it all out and framing the opposition as weak on terror.

    It’ll probably work. What’s that saying, they need to hang together else they’ll all hang seperately? The Republican party knows that if they don’t line up, the dems get the house at the end of the year and impeachment proceedings start shortly thereafter. . .

  • If the FISA law, in its present form, allows the NSA to listen in RIGHT NOW and still have 3 days to apply for a warrant? Or as mentioned above, 15 days during time of war. Then how does bypassing the FISA court improve one’s starting time?

    Call me naive. But I can’t think of a single thing, legal or illegal, which would give someone a jump start on the present. If I’m correct, and I think I am. Time is divided into the past, present and future. We can’t return to the past, the future hasn’t arrived yet, so we’re kinda stuck living and doing things in the present. That alone pretty much locks in “RIGHT NOW” as the best starting time, for doing anything, we can reasonably hope for.

    The Bush argument that they have to by-pass the FISA court for times sake, just doesn’t hold water. There is obviously another reason the administration wants no paper trail?

  • They are already filling media time with other things to divert the mindless public from the horror of what they are doing. What disturbs me is I hear arguements about the legality of their behavior; is it “okay” in “times of war” for the “commander in chief” to take special precautions to “protect” the American people?
    This is the most corrupt administration America has ever had. Nixon looks good compared to these people. Perhaps Canada would be a good place to live. I fear it is too late for us in America. Our civil rights are about gone.

  • This is it. This is the message to keep hammering. It’s simple, clean and damaging. “Bush broke the law. Bush says he will continue to break the law. Bush didn’t need to break the law. Why did Bush break the law?”

    The lawless Bush meme. You can make it happen.

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