Posted on 12/21/2005 5:25:25 AM PST by Kimberly GG
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Jonathan Alter Newsweek Updated: 6:17 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2005
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.
No wonder Bush was so desperate that The New York Times not publish its story on the National Security Agency eavesdropping on American citizens without a warrant, in what lawyers outside the administration say is a clear violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I learned this week that on December 6, Bush summoned Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller to the Oval Office in a futile attempt to talk them out of running the story. The Times will not comment on the meeting, but one can only imagine the president’s desperation.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Alter, the lefty loon, will be on with O'Reilly tonight...unfortunately not for as long as Hewitt had him. Bill already lit into his comments last night.
Yes, he really showed how completely ill-informed Alter was on very topic he was writing.
"Newsweek. Now there's a winner."....Alter,Alterman same litter box........The Oliphants same.........
I'm still waiting on Michael Moore's analysis of this. And what about Wavy Gravy, has he chimed in yet? Kanye West?
About as legit as a Jonathan Alter Newsweek piece.
Never trust anyone who always looks like they're ready to burst into tear. Alter has a permanent pout on his face.
Now that I think about it, if we enforced the sedition laws Jonathan Alter would be in prison.
Nobody believes anything this Leftie says anymore. he couldn't review Mary Mapes book in the NYT Review of Books without talking out of both sides of his mouth.
This punk was on Imus a few years ago and asked Imus where he got the tapes of Richard Nixon and General Patton. Imus had to inform him that they were done by his staff, that Nixon and Patton were dead. He is so out of it that he can only write for a rag like Newsweek.
Alter=liberal agenda!
Alter does not work for me.
Every President since Roosevelt has asserted and exercised the inherent authority to wiretap foreign powers for national security purposes without a warrant.
Alter's entire opinion on the subject is based on a completely false premise, namely that it is illegal and unconstitutional for a President to do this. To the contrary, no court considering the question has ever said that, and all courts commenting on the subject have expressly recognized the President's inherent authority. Congress in passing FISA and the 9/14/01 resolution also recognized the President's inherent authority. Congress has no authority to impair the President's inherent Article II powers. If resort must be made to the statute, the use of force was authorized, and this type of surveillance is inherent in and a necessary concomitant to the use of force, just like detention was found to be in the Hamdi (or is Hamdan) case.
So, the lefty position on this issue is wrong, ignorant and stoopid. God Bless Hugh Hewitt, and thanks to Jonathan Alter for revealing himself to be such a clown. The left's position is also extremely dangerous and extremely foolish politically. Their platform now consists of a high pitched nasal whine that George Bush is awfully mean to terrorists. Yes, he certainly is.
Strategery or not, the left has now rushed into a position which is wrong, stupid, dangerous, and politically insane. Right where we want 'em. Life is Good!
Yeah, and I bet Alter has written countless columns demanding the release of the Barrett Report also - NOT.
NewsLEAK...Sen. Levin, call your office!
Alter must have missed Bartlett's tagline: "This is the LATE Richard M. Nixon".
What a doofus!
I have to wonder why the President was so naive as to believe that he could dissuade Sulzberger from publishing the details of this surveillance program. If anything, he was inviting him to do so by the expedient of a face to face meeting (which Sulzberger probably demanded as the price for hearing the President out). How did we go from Dick Cheney's comments about Adam Clymer (which show that both he and the President had a pretty good idea of where the NYT stood editorially), to having guys like Scooter Libby literally "sleeping with the enemy"?
I wonder if "Senator Depends" (Leaky Leahy )had anything to do with this?
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