Bush’s Snoopgate

Newsweek ^ | 12/19/06 | Jonathan Alter

[Xanadu2112]

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.

[Bullitt]

this guy Alter sounds like a sniveling liberal who likes terrorisism more than his own country.

[Bullitt]

letters@newsweek.com; webeditors@newsweek.com Theres the emails to address this clown's comments. I'm in the middle of mine. What a bunch of saps these people are.

[VOA]

Once again, I post the simple outcome of Dubya's directive that
resulted in NO murders by terrorists in America since 9-11:

BUSH SPYED, NOBODY DIED

Thanks to the freeper (screen-name unremembered) for this gem

[jess35]

I'm not real happy with President G.W. Bush doing this

Doing what? Do we really know what is going on? Whatever the President authorized, made it past the intelligence committees, the Attorney general and the WH counsel. Dems like Rockefeller and Feinstein can sit back and play stupid (not a hard task for her) but they were told about this and they didn't see fit to stand up and cry foul 3 years ago. Think about all the leaks we've seen from the various intelligence organizations. Don't you think that just maybe, the administration had justification for leaving certain people (judges) out of the loop for a short time? We have a FISA court Judge who came right out and told the administration she would refuse to issue any wiretaps using information received via NSA surveillance of international communications if the surveillance had not been authorized by the courts...even though FISA authorizes retroactive wiretaps up to 72 hours. How in the hell does the administration fight the enemy outside our borders when the enemy within attempts to thwart his every move?

[Bullitt]

It's pretty amazing how this guy Alter actually calls the President a law breaker yet says all muslims were fearful of this eavesdropping. This guy bashes Bush then sticks up for those who may have been planning us harm. I say Alter also get the noose for treason.

[SkyPilot]

And here is the handsome and debonair Jonathan Alter folks. You can just tell by the photo how modest and trustworthy he is (sarcasm).

Jonathan Alter

Ah yes. And the two paragons of journalism and champion defenders of the First Amendment, Arthur Sulzburger and William Keller of the NY Slimes (they don't look smug, do they):

These people are beyond contempt. The American people should overload the switchboards of Congress and demand these traitors be investigated by the Justice Administration.

I don't care what blow back the MSM blow hards throw out when that happens. These people have crossed the line. They masturbated for months over the non-disclosure of non-classified information in the case of a CIA agent who was not undercover and where no laws were broken.

Let them get a belly full of what it means to really break the law.

When you see cocky and defensive articles like this (and you will see more of them), just be assured that the President hit a nerve by calling their acts "shameful."

"It is always the hurt hog that squeals."

[SkyPilot]

Tha should read "Justice Dept."

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

[Ex parte MERRYMAN] HABEAS CORPUS POWER TO SUSPEND IN TIME OF WAR

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543844/posts

[cardinal4]

Dear Mr Alter,
STFU.
Thank You,
Cardinal4

[wolfpat]

I'm well aware it's war time. But what is there to preserve if we lose our freedom? You are the one stupidly living in a Utopian "word" if you don't see the probability of government abuse of wire taps. If they're just tapping terrorists and their collaborators here, then there's no problem. But what assurance do we have that they'll stop when the war on the jihadists is over. The Constitution doesn't give the government authority to spy on Americans.

P.S. As for She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named not being President, I wish I had your optimism. But the American People elected her husband. Twice. I don't have faith they won't be fooled a third time. Remember that although President Bush got the most votes for President ever in history, John F'n Kerry got the second most votes.

[beyond the sea]

As usual you and your Marxist buddies jump the gun and then Mr. Bush closes the trap on you.

Oh yes, and here may be why.

****

From a couple of years ago ............ GWB: HBS MBA

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1070924/posts

The American Thinker February 3, 2004 | Thomas Lifson

*****

One final note on George W. Bush’s management style and his Harvard Business School background does not derive from the classroom, per se. One feature of life there is that a subculture of poker players exists. Poker is a natural fit with the inclinations, talents, and skills of many future entrepreneurs. A close reading of the odds, combined with the ability to out-psych the opposition, leads to capital accumulation in many fields, aside from the poker table.

By reputation, the President was a very avid and skillful poker player when he was an MBA student. One of the secrets of a successful poker player is to encourage your opponent to bet a lot of chips on a losing hand. This is a pattern of behavior one sees repeatedly in George W. Bush’s political career. He is not one to loudly proclaim his strengths at the beginning of a campaign. Instead, he bides his time, does not respond forcefully, at least at first, to critiques from his enemies, no matter how loud and annoying they get. If anything, this apparent passivity only goads them into making their case more emphatically.

[be-baw]

Jonathan Alter....no more needs to be said, nor read.

[Alissa]

Wish on Alter, my guess is someone from the NYT will be in jail for leaking classified material before any serious impeachment motion reaches the floors of Congress. Justice needs to find the leakers before more damage is done to National security.

That's where our REAL anger should be directed, not these smarmy pundits like Alter.

[IamConservative]

I think I may try to snag this Newsweek. I would like a nice color page to line the bird cage on Christmas Day. The NYT seems so drab to use on a Holiday.

[Cboldt]

I don't think the FISA statute extends quite the way that you assert it does.

That doesn't make the fruits of the wiretaps inadmissible, nor does it necessesarily mean the wiretaps were either illegal or unconstitutional - just that FISA isn't the justification. The administration doesn't assert that FISA is the justification either.

[Cboldt]

If the Bush Administration can produce even one example where this "snooping on American citizens" concretely prevented a terrorist attack, the Dems will take an unimaginable hit.

The NYT article provided at least one example - the guy who was planning to use a torch to cut cables on the Brooklyn Bridge. He plead guilty.

There is another one relating to a mall bomber.

[jveritas]

First we are doing wiretaps on suspected terrorists and not not on ordinary citizens, and that it is all what it is. Once the government wiretaps ordinary citizens for no reasons then you can raise hell, but it is not happening now.

In regards to your lost of faith of the American people because they elected Bill Clinton twice, I will never lose faith in them because they elected President Reagan twice and President Bush twice. Hillary Clinton is no where near her husband skills and political appeals. The woman is a committed ultra left wing liberal, huge flip floper, so obviously fake to most Americans, has zero charisma and political charm, and she has a very transparent mean character that she cannot hide from the majority of Americans. The majority of the American people is not going to elect such a woman to be commander in chief protect them and their children. Just listen to her giving a speech with her screeching and what ever political IQ you have will tell you that there is no way the American people will elect a woman like this to be President. Her speeches content and style belong only to comedy central and late night shows. The woman is a political clown, and the majority of Americans are not going to elect an ultra liberal, very mean, so obviously fake, political clown like Hillary Clinton to be President.

[Mo1]

Hey Johnny ... Nice going ... You outted yourself

[SkyPilot]

I keep thinking back to the Clinton years, where Alter was sooo fired up to defend Clinton. He called him "complex" and "a man whose soul has many doors."

Please.

Bill Clinton was a sexual predator, a liar, and most likely a rapist as well.

Alter is not a "journalist"--he just plays one one TV.

[Wolfstar]

Mr. Alter, can't we finally, at long last, bury the oh-so-trite "gate" suffix? I know you Leftists think VietNam and Watergate were the highpoints of your lives, but really, now. Tacking "gate" onto every DC dust-up got old back in the 1980's. We're now in the 21st Century, when most of your hoped-for audience is too young to understand the reference.