Posted on 12/16/2005 4:04:00 PM PST by Goldwater-Reagan Republican
To the surprise of perhaps no one, Senators Arlen Specter and John McCain have jumped on this morning's reports of NSA spying within the United States as another opportunity to grab the limelight.
Report of NSA Spying Prompts Call for Probe (AP)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter put the Bush administration on notice Friday that his panel would hold hearings into a report that the National Security Agency eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United States. "There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," said Specter, R-Pa., calling hearings early next year "a very, very high priority." He wasn't alone in reacting harshly to the report. Sen. John McCain R-Ariz., said the story, first reported in Friday's New York Times, was troubling.
[...]
"This is Big Brother run amok," declared Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., called it a "shocking revelation" that "ought to send a chill down the spine of every senator and every American."
But, as the NYT story made clear, the Senate has long ago been apprised of the practice. Even Democrats like Jay Rockefeller knew about it. Indeed, the AP brings this up several paragraphs into the story:
The administration had briefed congressional leaders about the NSA program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that handles national security issues. Aides to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, declined to comment Thursday night.
So, if this was "inappropriate," "troubling," and "shocking," why wait until it hits the front page of the Times to say something about it? Couldn't they have held private hearings on this a year ago?
Update: An informed source e-mails and DC Loser comments below taking me to task for writing "the Senate has long ago been apprised of the practice" when, in fact, all I know for sure is the the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had been apprised. A fair point. I was operating on the presumption, perhaps incorrect, that the leadership of the Judiciary Committe, which would have oversight responsibility on FISA, and the Armed Services Committee, which has oversight over NSA, would have been similarly briefed.
I just LOVE I. Ros-Lehtinen, I love it when she is on the TV shows and is in hearings...
UH...oh...Harry REid is up on the Senate floor, saying that the Defense Appropriations Bill would pass easily if they would just take ANWR drilling out....hehe
Note to President Bush: No good deed goes unpunished and
Sphincter is proving it.
Rodguy....you canNOT go to Costra Rica....okay, okay, I will run against McCain if it will keep you here!
I would never vote for Newt Gingrich because of his cheating on his wife.
The way I see it, if a man is willing to lie, cheat on and betray his wife, he will certainbly be able to do that to the voters...
Ed
I don't think that President Bush himself should look as if he is running to a microphone everytime the MSM or the dems level a new charge against him...
Well, somebody needs to be in front of a microphone and get in front of these things. The media is repeating "Criminal Conduct" and "Investigation" non stop.
I don't think Scott McClellan is getting the job done. The Iraq vote yesterday has been effectively erased.
I wish Jeff Sessions wasn't a Senator.
We're going to have to do a real housecleaning of the Senate in the coming years. Both these guys are addled and far more trouble then they are worth.
if that's our standard for exclusion, then you might as well turn the entire government over to the Dems right now.
Reagan was divorced.
Just look of the fellow with his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing
Really, Roger Moore's older brother McCain makes me sick, here Moore was running around saying we let the Saudis out of the country after 9/11, now McCrain says we can listing in on their phone's
I agree that someone does....but, that is what public relations and the President's staff is for, right???
I heard on ABC News (for what it is worth)...that VP Cheney was "ordered" back to the White House today...to take care of "damage control"...
I don't know if that is true or not...but that was this afternoon....if Bush should have come out this morning to dispute this,...would he THEN have to come out this afternoon to dispute that Cheney was forced to come back to deal with this?>
See---it would be a never ending speech by Bush, every time the MSM would throw something against the wall and see if it sticks..
all right i will just go to fish and come back.
In reality however, he was a junior pilot when shot down and spent the war as a POW. Neither of those two resume bullets equate to leadership; a fact he demonstrates on a daily, if not hourly, basis. While he may be able to convince a majority of people his Vietnam experience makes him a natural leader (war experience did not work for Dole), his proudly touted violation of the Code of Conduct early in his captivity and his quisling, in constant search of stroking, Senate activities would spell mostly failure or even disaster as President. It is one thing to nip constantly at the heels of the leader; it is quite another to be the leader.
McCain is assuring himself a few months of Sunday talk shows.
Good....I wouldn't make a good POTUS anyway...I am NOT diplomat material.
I have the same problem. I would be a one term anything, I'm not good at compromising some principles.
"I agree that someone does....but, that is what public relations and the President's staff is for, right???"
He has a PR Staff?!
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