I am dumbfounded that people in power can have such arrogant conversations in front of we hoi polloi. The following is a news article regarding the domestic spying program that Bush is defending as government's right (which, by the way, was in full swing under Pres. Clinton and I railed against it then, too.)
I am going to highlight the "naughty bits."
To wit:
CIA Director Porter Goss said Thursday that the disclosure of George W. Bush’s
eavesdropping-without-warrants program and other once-secret projects had undermined U.S. intelligence-gathering abilities.
"The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission," Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said a
federal grand jury should be empaneled to determine "who is leaking this information." (BTW, how's that Dick Cheney investigation going?)
His testimony came after National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who directs all intelligence activities, strongly defended the program, calling it crucial for protecting the nation against its most menacing threat.
"This was not about domestic surveillance," Negroponte said.
Leaders of the nation's intelligence agencies appeared before the panel in a rare public session to give a rundown on threats facing the world.
Negroponte called al-Qaida and associated terror groups the "top concern" of the U.S. intelligence community, followed closely by the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.
Committee Democrats sought to change the focus to Bush's decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop — without first obtaining warrants — on communications to and from those in the United States and terror suspects abroad.
"Bush has not only confirmed the existence of the program, he has spoken at length about it repeatedly," while keeping Congress in the dark, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the panel's senior Democrat.
"The White House wants to have it both ways," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.
Goss complained that leaks to the news media about the surveillance program and activities such as reported CIA secret prisons abroad had damaged his own agency's work.
"I use the words `very severe' intentionally. And I think the evidence will show that," Goss said.
He said not only have these revelations made it harder for the CIA to gather information, but they have made intelligence agencies in other countries mistrustful of their U.S. counterparts.
"I'm stunned to the quick when I get questions from my professional counterparts saying, `
Mr. Goss, can't you Americans keep a secret?'" he said. (Apparently disclosing information to mere citizens is a cardinal sin.)
Goss cited a "disruption to our plans, things that we have under way." Some CIA sources and "assets" had been rendered "no longer viable or usable, or less effective by a large degree," he said.
"I also believe that there has been
an erosion of the culture of secrecy and we're trying to reinstall that," Goss said. (!)... oh, and just for emphasis (!).
"I've called in the FBI, the Department of Justice. It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present, being asked to reveal who is leaking this information," he said.
Rockefeller suggested that the "leaks" Goss talked about most likely "came from the executive branch" of the government.
That brought a terse response from FBI Director Robert Mueller, who said, "It's
not fair to point a finger as to the responsibility of the leak." (Though I agree with Mueller for a TOTALLY different reason than his, I'm sure, I've got to contrast his sentiment with Goss'in the second paragraph. Given Deep Throat's FBI connection, it sounds like the FBI might be the leak.
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Craig Bardo commented at 10:37 PM~
I can feel the Democrat party falling apart, almost like a pre-explosion rumble. Party leaders are made to dance to the tune of interest groups like NARAL and People for the American Way. John Kerry calls in a filibuster from Davos. The Daily Kos has replaced the Grey Lady with all the shit that's fit to print and Howard Dean is thought to be a right winger.
The MSM has got it all wrong too. They think Hillary is the darling of the party. Among party activists, she's viewed to be nearly as right wing as Cheney. Cindy Sheehan is taking a run at Diane Feinstein and Rahm Emmanuel keeps saying he'll come up with "a plan."
The ineptitude of a party that can't capitalize on an unpopular war, White House and Congressional indictments, a spy program that includes some domestic calls and a President that can't say nuclear is revealing. Watching Democrats lose more seats this fall, I'm afraid, will send many into long term therapy or at least binge drinking.
In the Dem primary for President, the base won't go for "electability" anymore, they will want one of their own. So when Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore are on the ticket together, remember you heard it here first.
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Frank Partisan commented at 9:41 AM~
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires---a wiretap requires a court order.
Nothing has changed, by the way.
When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so.
It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."
---President George W. Bush
April 20, 2004
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Craig Bardo commented at 10:50 AM~
Ren,
It seems that by precedent, law (legislative action), court ruling, constitutional authority and with the support of most Americans, the President continues to engage in tracking suspected calls to or from al Qaeda, with at least one end of the call overseas, with a warrant or not.
Jay Rockerfeller (Senate Intelligence Committee Member informed of the practice) had access to courts, not just the desk drawer he placed a cya letter to Cheney in; as did Harry (Indian Tribe) Reid and Nancy (Illegal immigrant abuser) Pelosi. I suspect the hearings on this will show that the President acted within his authority, that there were no abuses and it will do damage to Democrats with their base, just as the Alito confirmation process did.
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Craig Bardo commented at 11:23 AM~
Olive,
I was a Democrat most of my life. It was a very difficult decision for me to make the move less than a decade ago. I had to leave because the party made no sense. The biggest challenge for me was believing that Republicans were racists. The Southern Strategy (although later acquiring its name) began with Barry Goldwater. The passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 & 65 passed with much larger percentages of Republicans voting for passage than Democrats. Goldwater was a notable exception, he claims, based on states rights. For whatever reason, it was at best poor timing to oppose passage of those laws.
He won the Republican primary and tried to woo southern Democrats, it didn't work, but it sowed the seeds of what officially became Nixon's Southern Strategy - both crass attempts to exploit race to win political victory. In the late 60's black voters migrated toward the D party as a result.
Although some dispute it, Reagan, albeit awkwardly at times, moved the party away from that stance. The culmination of that decision is a George Bush Presidency which has had more blacks in responsible positions than all Presidents in history combined, including the "first black President" William (Cigar) Clinton. That people are reticent to acknowledge this, despite black voters still voting 85-90% Dem - he had nothing to gain by it.
Policy ineffectiveness was at the heart of my move though. Liberal policies, especially with regard to economics, simply failed. Not only have they failed, they fail everywhere in the world they have been attempted - with the notable exception of the Nordic states Jae pointed out, that I don't yet have enough information on to dispute his stats. Protectionism, doesn't work, central distribution of scarce resources with alternative uses (tax and spend), doesn't work, over-regulation kills jobs and sends them overseas.
On a micro economic level, welfare has been a disaster, resulting in fatherless homes, child poverty, violence and the acceptance of the misogynistic violence of hip hop as "black culture. Abortion policy has been directed toward black communities, following the founder's goal, to cull the black population from the gene pool of America.
The party is cleriphobic, wants the courts to circumvent the democratic process to strip away the fabric of what "We the People" want with "gay marriage" finding a "right to privacy" where none existed and by extension calling the murder of an unborn child "a woman's right to choose."
There is no center to the party, unless you consider the Daily Kos the glue that holds this disparate group of single issue interest groups together.
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Craig Bardo commented at 11:40 AM~
There are factions within the Republican party too, although not nearly as pronounced as found among Democrats. The rift between modern, paleo and neo conservatives and libertarians is seen in war and economic policy. Then there are the country club Republicans, of which W is a descendant. Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chaffe, Susan Collins, Chuck Hagel, John Warner, etc. They organize themselves with Republicans but they have distaste for ideologues on the right (for everyone really-they're just snooty). Bush has been able to hold this collection together, but strains are beginning to appear over the war between neo and paleo conservatives. Strains have also appeared between economic conservatives and big government conservatives like Bush and the country clubbers. I think there will be enough inertia to hold it together, but I know that I'm frustrated.
I'd like to see big government conservatives (which include a big chunk of the neo con crowd, all of the country clubbers and others) jettisoned. I want no part of the activism some Christian right conservatives advocate - they want to replace liberal activists with conservative activists - activists shouldn't be on the court period. I'd also like to see the social liberals go. Lincoln Chaffee's embrace of Chavez last year comes to mind - as well as his recent vote against Alito.
While these skirmishes are mild compared to the seizmic fissures in the Dem coalition, I and others, seeking ideological seperation are discontented.
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Frank Partisan commented at 11:19 PM~
I disagree with Olive and Jae, regarding your feelings of forlornness, toward the Democratic Party. I think you should instead celebrate your political growth.
As I told Jae previously, fascism is something that occurs, after specific prerequisites. Even a military dictatorship is not fascism. A military dictatorship is only a bureaucratic state with military protection. That definition is incorrect. Those attributes have been seen in many states, that weren't fascist. They may have been bureaucratic, dictatorial, or reactionary. Fascism is much more than that definition.
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Frank Partisan commented at 10:08 PM~
It is important not to misuse the word fascist.
Fascism occurs when the progressive and revolutionary movement, without proper leadership, gets close to taking power, but is rebuffed. Fascism is the state of the total annihilation of the revolutionary movement. It is more than conservatism, racism, bureaucracy, or militarism.
Liberals often misuse the term to get votes.
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commented at 1:46 PM~
Don't mistake observation of the obvious with glee, as I said before, many of us are unhappy, but for reasons other than what causes your angst.
