Posted on 12/19/2005 4:52:33 PM PST by Xanadu2112
Dec. 19, 2005 - Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
This story is why your magazine continues to lose subscriptions and revenues. Maybe next time Johnny! but I wouldn't start booking your tickets for the impeachment just yet. As usual you and your Marxist buddies jump the gun and then Mr. Bush closes the trap on you. We'll see you in 2008 when you can cry over another Democrat party loss because nobody trusts them or you to protect the United States! Thanks and have a nice day, you hack!
Love,
Xanadu 2112
Where's the barf alert?
Sickening.
Does anyone have any info on the kind of 'snooping' and or 'spying' went on leading up to and during WWII? Just out of curiosity, it would seem to me that when at war, there are certain things you gotta do. My leftie friends are in a lather over this issue and it just seems kind of obvious to me.
whooo... big news...
Newsweek ^ | 12/19/06 | Jonathan Alter
OMG, Its incredible! I cant stand it.
That about sums it up. Well done.
What a pantload!
"President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work."
Yes, it will because the American people agree with him and don't give a da*n if some Saudi-American radical has his phone tapped.
"My leftie friends are in a lather over this issue and it just seems kind of obvious to me."
Why not ask them about the Internment Camps during WWII? That should make their heads explode, then your problems are over once and for all, LOL!
Can you even imagine what life for we Pubbies would be like now had every Muslim been rounded up and confined on 9/12/01?
I'd use that to compare and contrast their argument as to how evil America could be if she still had some balls and hadn't been watered down to the point where all we do now is listen in on a few phone conversations. *Rolleyes* ;)
I just ate dinner. Because of that, I am not able to read anything from this mindless twit.
I guess we can draw our own conclusions by considering first Pearl Harbor and then the Japanese internment camps.
This from the article, of course an unbiased phrase......
*rolling eyes*
I thought Clinton was a master at getting his detractors all tangled up trying to attack him, but Bush does it so much better.
The big difference, Clinton used sexual infidelity as the tar-baby because it was extremely convenient, he was always screwing around. His detractors would demonstrate their disgust with his behavior and it took them away from the really BAD things he was doing like selling out technology, giving away top secret info, and using the agencies as a personal tool to silence political opponents.
Bush uses his authority as president, and the integrity he applies to that job, as the tar-baby. These people can not stand to see him lead like this, so they attack every thing that they think might be a blemish, but it only turns into the RIGHT THING TO DO and they look stupid for over-shooting.
Here we go again!
I'm not sure what I think about this "Snoopgate". I understand the need to act quickly when an opportunity for intelligence on the terrorists comes up, and that this action might save hundreds or even thousands of lives,
BUT,
I would have been uncomfortable with President G.H.W. Bush doing this. I would have hated President Clinton doing this. I'm not real happy with President G.W. Bush doing this. And I'm terrified at the thought of President H. Clinton doing this.
Jonathan Alter, an expert at leftwing spin and a huge a-hole to boot. Nothing new.
snoopgate, to be added to the list of other -gates where liberals try to invent news and end up with egg on their faces:
rathergate, downingstreetgate, plamegate, electiongate
Clinton used sexual infidelity as the tar-baby
He still does! If Chinese trading deals comes up, the topic gets shifted to blue dresses, and he openly whines about that rather than, just where did two of our Cray computers go, and with what software?
It keeps him safe.
Now if Bush were to do that, he'd mention, "Well, I was talking to someone at Halliburton and they said..."
Unless I missed it the Newsweek employee makes no mention of Echelon or any Clinton "spying" on Americans. I guess it's only our, apparently not his, enemies that he's trying to protect.
Echelon and carnivore thanks to WBJC
Don't ya just luv Left wing hate??
A little research would be in order before writing this kind of tripe. But he seems incapable of even the most basic research.
If he bothered to check out section 1802 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, "Electronic Surveillance Authorization Without Court Order" he would find it very informative. There he would learn that "Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year".
Mr. Alter's hair transplants must have grown into his brain.
"Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power."
I'll bet every word of that sentence was written in an extreme state of sexual ecstasy.
and one I have heard quite a few times today from the other side of the aisle? hmmm. Talking points out early, huh gang. King... Dictator...yada yada yada
"Finally we have a Washington scandal...." says it all right there to me.
Dear Newsweek:
I notice you did not tell the reader just which law it is the president broke. Perhaps that is because he didn't break any laws.
In fact, legislation posted below says that US citizens can be subject to warrantless wiretaps.
This is the legislation that pertains to citizens of the United States:
section 1801, subsection (i): "United States person," which includes citizens, legal aliens, and businesses, explicitly "does not include a corporation or an association which is a foreign power."
Does that mean that even if you are a citizen you cash in your abovementioned rights by collaborating with terrorists? Yes. You have then become an "Agent of a foreign power" as defined under subsection (b)(2)(C). Such agents include anyone who "knowingly engages in sabotage or international terrorism, or activities that are in preparation therefor, for or on behalf of a foreign power," and even includes those who aid and abet or knowingly conspire with those engaged in such behavior.
Does that include everyone, even citizens? Yes. Subsection (b)(1) is the part that applies to foreigners; (b)(2) covers everybody. And the whole point of the act is to collect "foreign intelligence information," which is defined under section 1801 subsection (e)(1)(B) as "information that relates to, and if concerning a United States person is necessary to, the ability of the United States to protect against sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power."
And then of course, Newsweek, there's this little tidbit you forgot to mention:
Congress passed new legislation which permitted the wiretapping of US citizens without a warrant.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543451/posts
But hey, since when have you ever let a few facts get in the way of your agenda? LOL
Please, please Mr Alter and all you liberal scumbags, please quote me the law that was violated. You can't. You liberal scum hide behind the lie that you cannot be unpatriotic if you are American. Well all members of Congress, and all federal officials take an oath to protect and defend the constitution and the US against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC. The democrats and liberals are enemies of the people of the United States, and the day will come when you will be exposed and receive your just punishment.
Indeed!
Brilliant letter. They just can't win with their tired old kneejerk ideology.
You forgot - he's a traitor too.
Naval Intelligence had cracked the Japanese encryption codes BEFORE Pearl Harbor. In fact, we had decrypted and read the Japanese declaration of war BEFORE the Japanese diplomats, Kurusu and Nomura, could do so themselves!
We read every single radio wave, phone call, and telegram we could. Unfortunately, they didn't put it all together to save Pearl Harbor until about the very hour the attack commenced. We did put this intelligence to good use six months later at Midway, sinking 4 Japanese main carriers and stopping their offense actions for the rest of the war.
We need to impeach FDR then, using democrat logic of today.
And besides, 99 percent of America doesn't read your magazine and most of those read it a year later in a Dr's office.
travelgate, monicagate, cigargate, stealingthewhitehousefurnituregate...
Not only is that normal practice during a declared war, but all of the current intercepts concern INTERNATIONAL communications, and on the other end of all of these three dozen (give or take a few) communications was an Al Qaeda-associated person.
A President in wartime who did NOT use this, and many other forms, of smoking out threats to the nation, would be derelict in his duties. It's as simple as that.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column: " 'Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics' in Military Recruitment"
They are living in an alternative universe!
That is such a great post!
EXCELLENT letter. I hope you're actually sending that to Newsweek :-)
Oh, the media is really going to go nuts about this. I haven't the slightest doubt. They could at least report what the President authorized accurately.
Media lies about President Bush and “mass spying”
http://www.brookesnews.com ^ | Monday 19 December 2005 | Gerard Jackson
As soon as the New York Times hit the streets with its mendacious attack on President Bush, accusing him of ordering the National Security Agency to secretly spy on Americans, I knew instantly that this vile hit job would be parroted in the Australian media virtually word for word. And so it came to pass, as the Good Book would say. David Nason and Patrick Walters led the attack on President Bush with
George W. Bush has allowed the US National Security Agency to spy on hundreds and possibly thousands of American citizens since 2002 without the court-approved warrants that make such surveillance legal (No warrants given for mass spying, The Australian, 17 December).
This was followed by the accusation that the “covert operation [was] secretly authorised by the President”, thus conveying the impression that the President acted alone. This is a brazen lie. This pair of phoney reporters then admitted that the sole source for their agitprop was the New York Slimes’ Bush-hating national security reporter James Risen.
Why didn’t this pair of intrepid journos investigate the story further rather than relying on the viciously partisan NYT whose reputation for integrity and disinterested journalism has been reduced to tatters by its publisher ‘Pinch” Sulzberger? Any man in the street would have had enough sense to smell a rat. Not this pair of Bush-hating lefties. If the so-called “paper of record” says Bush violated Americans’ civil liberties then that is good enough for them.
Far from acting in secret, and without the knowledge of Congress, President Bush made a point of briefing congressional leaders. How come Nason and Walters didn’t bother to find this out? Moreover, this pair’s outrageous insinuation that thousands of innocent Americans were spied on is refuted by the fact that the program is directed against the international communications of people within the US who are believed to be linked with terrorist organizations.
Yet Nason and Walters made no mention of this vitally important fact. Even more sickening is that the NYT had this fact in its possession but chose to ignore it in a despicable attempt to smear Bush as a danger to Americans’ civil liberties.
The liars at the Times claimed that they delayed publication of Risen’s article for a year to conduct further investigations. But we now learn that Risen had written a book on the subject that will be released in less than a week –– even though he finished it more than three months ago!
One would have to be a complete idiot, or a leftwing journo, not realise what the hell is going on here. Additionally, these scumbags also timed publication of Risen’s article to bury the good news from Iraq. They are obviously hoping that the book’s publication will continue this process. Hence, in their perverted eyes, they will have killed two birds with one stone. Only this time the liars are not getting away with it.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Risen’s book State of War is another leftwing hit job on Bush. The book is being published by Simon & Schuster using the same person who acted as editor for Richard Clarke and Hillary Clinton. A coincidence? Not likely given that Simon & Schuster is owned by Viacom, a company with strong links to the Clintons. Furthermore, Viacom owns CBS. It also runs the leftwing Sundance Film Channel, promoted leftists activities and practiced censorship.
So how did Nason and Walters manage to overlook these connections and the Times obvious conflict of interest? And why do I get the feeling that what we have here is ideologically motivated selective reporting?
Now let’s examine another fact that these fearless defenders of the public’s right to know managed to overlook. Senator Jay Rockefeller, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was fully informed of this program from the beginning as were other members of Congress.
It was Rockefeller who requested that the special court that overseers the program should re-examine some of the NSA’s new powers of surveillance. Yet not a peep from Nason and Walters about this. According to them Bush did it all by himself. As far as they are concerned, Bush is the real enemy. And these political bigots have the nerve to call themselves journalists.
It’s more than obvious that partisan Democrats within the CIA are intent on destroying the Bush presidency irrespective of the damage it does to national security and the danger in which it puts their fellow Americans. In this regard they have a lying media fully on side.
For years now Congressional Democrats like Leahy, Rockefeller, Durbin, Kennedy and Levin have been embroiled in a number of national security scandals. Yet this has never been reporting in the Australian media. Moreover, the Democrats are notorious for using security agencies for partisan ends. In addition, evidence is surfacing that the Clintons used the IRS to harass their critics. This is another story that our media spiked.
The media are the real scandal here –– not George W. Bush.
Gerard Jackson is Brookes’ economics editor
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543036/posts
What makes you think Clinton didnt do this. I agree it was probably to find out what his girlfriends were talking about.
I'd like to find out who's leaking.
"Finally we have a Washington scandal...."
To add to all the others people like Alter have tried to pony up.
Well, I wasn't going to, but maybe we should all bombard their e-mail.
Yes! Send it! Send it! And be sure to let Alter know its from the FR Pajama Patrol! :-)
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