Phone Record Gathering Story Blown Out of Proportion

nationalreview.com ^ | Andrew C. McCarthy

[Jeff Winston]

And there’s nothing “out of proportion” about it.

[SE Mom]

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.

[montag813]

Here’s what this idiot does not get,,whatever the “reason”,,whatever the “extent” of the surveillance, we can be certain the government is going to LIE about it.

Uh, Andrew McCarthy is a patriot, not an idiot. Please Google him ASAP.

[El Cid]

I agree with one aspect of McCarthy's claim that this is being blown out of proportion. I believe it is being done so to distract from the more felonious and treasonous crimes of Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the IRS gestapo tactics. Thus the Washington Post is eager to focus on this story.
Yes, it is not the government's business to collect personal phone records - and they are wasting my taxpayer's money by doing so. But that said, I want the spotlight to be on those other crimes (Fast and Furious, Benghazi-gate, and IRS targeting) until people are sent to jail for their criminal actions, and the IRS is disbanded.

[Jeff Winston]

Except the action itself.

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.

[TADSLOS]

Out of proportion? This says otherwise:

NSA Data Center

[LibLieSlayer]

mccarthy... you are a traitor!

LLS

[CA Conservative]

Didn’t take long for Obama’s MSM drones to get their talking points from the WH and then go forth to try and discredit the story, which DOJ just admitted was true.

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.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Will be interesting to hear Levin’s take on this tonight.

[CA Conservative]

NSA spying on American people is not blowing it out of proportion - could you imagine if Bush did it. He would be driven from office.

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).

[cripplecreek]

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.

[gdani]

NSA spying on American people is not blowing it out of proportion - could you imagine if Bush did it. He would be driven from office.

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.

[austinaero]

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.

[SoFloFreeper]

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.

[Carry_Okie]

NSA spying on American people is not blowing it out of proportion - could you imagine if Bush did it.

This program started in 2006. Bush did do it, handed Zero the keys, and walked away.

[PATRIOT1876]

Buckley must be spinning like a lathe!

[shhrubbery!]

If you click through to to the comments at the original article, the author’s reasoning is pretty convincingly shredded.

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.

[RummyChick]

Bush didn’t do it in a wholesale fashion.

[edcoil]

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.