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.
The president repeatedly said that this was for anyone with KNOWN AL QAEDA LINKS. Any American who doesn't have known Al Qaeda links has nothing to fear from the NSA story. Kind of makes you wonder why congress is so worried, doesn't it?
mclame will be Queen hillary's VP. A mclame and j f'n k ticket wouldn't have worked because they would have constantly tried to out "war-hero" each other, instead of working together.
Queen hillary NEEDS mclame to cover her behind on the "weak on defense" portion of her resume, it'll be a "kum-bay-ya" ticket, with the MSM and all the "mclame-iacs" (ie squishy rino middle-of-the-road Rep voters) running to embrace it.
When mclame FINALLY figures out that he ain't NEVER gonna be the 2008 Rep candidate for POTUS,(his last REAL chance) he'll go for "revenge" and JOYOUSLY accept the Queen's "offer".
VP as his last shot is better than nothing, and mclame can play his "I'm a war hero, so therefore I'm ALWAYS right until death" before every camera in the MSM (who already LOVE him because he's anti-Bush) while Queen hillary goes almost INVISIBLE all the way to the White House.
Again, IMHO......I could be wrong, but I bookmarked my other post in case I'm right ( so I can show my wife that I'm not wrong All the time....)
No need. Your analysis could easily come true, especially when your talking about McLame. He is an egotistical, power hungry old f#@# who would do and say anything to get into the WH.
Send Spector and McCain to the Democrats.
Listening to Errhead America Mike Malloy and they are discussing impeachment or take to the streets or "something else". A caller and Mike were discussing that Bush will hide behind the advice from his consel and AG Gonzalez on interpretation of his CIC powers and he will say he is not a lawyer. But they agreed they have a secret weapon - Snarlin Arlen Spector!! He is supposedly a Constitutional expert and he is pissed at Bush acting like KING GEORGE. That's what the loony left is saying!!!!!!!
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