Letters to the Editor
Reilly
Published Letters: 390
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Harry Reid's closing statements yesterday (with commentary)
[Read the article: Aug. 8, 1974 vs. July 9, 2008]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"These lawsuits could have been a vehicle to achieve a public accounting of the President's illegal warrantless wiretapping program."(But under my leadership the Democratic majority intervened to make sure that just wouldn't happen.) "That is why it is important that the Democratic negotiators forced the President to submit his program to a comprehensive inspectors general review."(So that we wouldn't have to run the risk of negative media narratives by actually fulfilling our obligation of congressional oversight.)"That review should finally provide a full airing of this entire sorry episode."(And since our fingerprints won't be on it, we can profess extreme outrage if it provides evidence of wrongdoing or pat ourselves on the back for having passed the FISA legislation if the IG whitewashes it.)"The bill requires the inspectors general of the relevant agencies to complete a comprehensive review of the President's surveillance program within a year."(By which time we're hoping the entire thing has slipped down the memory hole)"By the time that report is issued, President Bush will have left office."(And that, in a nutshell is what this is all about.)"Although his term will have come to an end, the work of uncovering this administration's abuses of power is just beginning."(Except that it's not really "just beginning" because, as I've just gotten done saying, we've found a way to put it off for another year.)"Future Presidents, future Congresses, and the American people will learn from President Bush's abuses of power in a positive fashion."(They will learn that is was positively the fashion of this Congress to respond to Presidential abuse by trying to hide it and hide from it.)
"The debate on this FISA legislation may be nearing an end, but the history books are yet to be written."(But if I start thinking about that now, I'll just end up with an ulcer)"Throughout this fight, a small number of lonely voices insisted that there is no contradiction between liberty and security."(To which some of us rolled our eyes while others put their fingers to their lips and said "Shhh!".) "As new facts have become known, their numbers have swelled, and the voices have grown louder."(But instead of finding that inspiring I found it nervous-making, instead of responding to the growing chorus I and others choose to offer feeble and deceitful propoganda in order to pretend those passions were misplaced.)"I am confident that when it is all known, the condemnation of President Bush's blatant disregard for the Constitution will be deafening."(But frankly I just don't want to be the one to help make it known.)"I hope that because those voices refused to be silenced, the next President and all future Presidents will not waiver from a path that protects the American people without compromising our core American values based upon our Constitution."(Essentially, I hope that despite me and my lack of moral courage everything turns out well in the end, because having hope is so much easier than taking action.)
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If your stomachs can stand it
[Read the article: Congress votes to immunize lawbreaking telecoms, legalize warrantless eavesdropping]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush is about to make a televised statement from the Rose Garden regarding Senate approval of FISA.
I think he's going to come out riding a chariot pulled by the Democratic leadership.
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Anyone watch the network news?
[Read the article: Congress votes to immunize lawbreaking telecoms, legalize warrantless eavesdropping]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm just wondering if the ravenous watchdogs of democracy showed their usual level of urgency about our Constitution and gave the FISA story third place behind JonBenet's DNA and Jesse Jackson's Obama comment. Or did they squeeze it in after the feel good story about a stray dog saving a duck caught in a drainage pipe?
BTW Glenn, congratulations on your well-deserved Wings of Justice award at Buzzflash. As long as you have your Justice Wings on would you mind flying over the Capitol and, well you know, drop a little justice on 'em.
P.S. I had an unopened e-mail from Harry Reid from yesterday, and I thought today would be a good day to unsubscribe. As luck would have it there's a comment box asking you why you've chosen to unsubscribe. After I had written several sentences I deleted everything and simply wrote: "Because of FISA, you disgrace." FWIW. I also unsubscribed from Pelosi's e-mail list which doesn't provide for commentary. But if anyone does get e-mail alerts from any of the Democratic Reps or Senators who "bowed" to Bush, now seems like a good time to send them a message, as minimal as it might be.
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-- pmorlan @ NYT -- Obama Supporters on Far Left Cry Foul
[Read the article: Torture and the rule of law]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The BS lie that the media is peddling about how anyone who objects to eviscerating the 4th amendment must be someone from the "loony left" or in "left field" is so infuriating. -- pmorlan
The media is peddling that BS - and you couldn't find a better or more gratuitous example than the last two graphs of that article - but most of the mainstream conventional nonsense being peddled in this piece is coming straight from the mouths of the Obama supporters. And I find it more depressing than infuriating that these people, mostly in their 20s, would be mouthing the same platitudes as David Broder or Lannie Davis, and sounding just as silly and contradictory.
Look no further than Bob Blanchard for illustration:
“Seventy-five thousand people do not attend political rallies unless something truly magical is happening,” Bob Blanchard wrote on May 18 in the comment section accompanying an account of the rally on the New York Times’s Web site. “Our great country will soon close the book on ‘government by division,’ and embrace ‘government by inclusion.’ ”
Asked last week whether Mr. Obama’s vote on the surveillance law or any other recent statements or actions had altered how he felt about the candidate, Mr. Blanchard, of North Smithfield, R.I., said “absolutely not.”
“When are these people going to go, anyway?” Mr. Blanchard said of left-wing critics he believes have hurt Democrats in past elections.
The inclusion will start promptly after the marginalized have left the building.