Posted on 06/06/2013 8:12:31 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Phone Record Gathering Story Blown Out of Proportion By Andrew C. McCarthy June 6, 2013 10:29 AM
Now, we begin to see the wages of having an administration that abuses its awesome powers, then, as night follows day, stonewalls and misleads Congress and the public. Crucial national security measures, which operate on the forgiving assumption that government officials will conduct themselves honorably, are put at risk.
The Washington Post publishes a wildly exaggerated report this morning about the government’s collection of telephone records for national security purposes. Mind you, I said collection of telephone records, not wiretapping of telephone conversations, a critical distinction. The story sensationally proclaims that the National Security Agency (NSA) “appears to be collecting the telephone records of tens of millions” of Americans – records of cross-border as well as domestic calls.
With stories swirling around about the Obama administration siccing the IRS on the Tea Party and abusively spying on journalists, this revelation obviously strikes a disturbing chord. But then, as we read further, we learn that the telephone record gathering is proceeding under court orders, and that the surveillance actually goes back to 2006.
The Post has a propensity to repeat uncritically the hysterical claims of anti-anti-terrorism activists at outfits like the Brennan Center (“This is a truly stunning revelation,” shrieks one Brennan official). In truth, though, there is nothing new or groundbreaking about the surveillance in question. The Post solves this inconvenience by underscoring that the record-collection is happening under … wait for it … the Patriot Act – two words that not only roil Bush-deranged Democrats but also make some factions of the Tea Party see red.
Here is what they don’t tell you.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
And there’s nothing “out of proportion” about it.
I love Andrew McCarthy and appreciate his line of reasoning here but even HE notes that this power in the hands of the wrong people can lead to bad outcomes.
This administration has not done one single thing to make me believe I can trust them in any instance - national security or otherwise.
Uh, Andrew McCarthy is a patriot, not an idiot. Please Google him ASAP.
Or am I the only one who finds it outrageous that the federal government is monitoring the phone records of A HUNDRED MILLION DAMN PEOPLE?
At the very LEAST. That's just VERIZON. As far as we know, there are similar court orders applying to every other phone provider out there. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, you name it.
I'd say it's damn likely the US government is secretly monitoring the phone activity of EVERY SINGLE DAMN PERSON IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
This means YOU.
mccarthy... you are a traitor!
LLS
While I don't necessarily agree with his position on this, Andrew McCarthy is anything but an Obama MSM drone... He is the federal prosecutor that put the Blind Sheikh behind bars, and is pretty conservative. That said, sometimes I think he is a little too approving of governmental power in the fight against terrorism - some things he thinks are fine I have serious problems with.
Will be interesting to hear Levin’s take on this tonight.
If you read the article, you will see that this goes back to 2006 - which is in the Bush presidency. That doesn't make it any better, it just means both parties are willing to participate in this kind of activity. In this case, its not about political ideology, it is about the use of governmental power (which both parties love).
We’ll have a government agency installing cameras and microphones in every home in America and the same quislings will arrogantly declare that the outrage is overblown, this has been going on for a long time.
Bush did exactly the same thing.
Such violations of our civil liberties are the only truly non-partisan thing Rs & Ds in Congress always agree on.
Uh, Andrew McCarthy is a patriot, not an idiot. Please Google him ASAP.
So am I,,but you can’t Google me as I am not of national prominence. And btw, it’s my opinion in this case he is...sorry you don’t agree.
What Andrew is saying is that while THIS particular activity is “legal”, it is a problem because the people executing these activities are not to be trusted.
Obama and his minions have been so abusive of power that even their apparently legal actions are stained.
This program started in 2006. Bush did do it, handed Zero the keys, and walked away.
Buckley must be spinning like a lathe!
If the commenters posted their real names and their credentials, the "shredding" you claim might be more "convincing."
Until then, I'm going to give Andrew McCarthy --a genuinely honorable man who has fought in the proverbial trenches of the war on Islamism-- the benefit of the doubt.
Bush didn’t do it in a wholesale fashion.
I will guess back in 2006 it was used to monitor suspects, etc and generally not Americans as it is today.
Remember, Reagan wanted NAFTA but with totally different rules then when it was finally signed and they justification was “well Reagan wanted it.”
It was a complete protecting American agreement to doing the reverse.
So when something starts is not as important as the intention and how that was changed to its current use.
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