Letters to the Editor
-
A Little Compassion, Please
Maybe we can take up a collection and send cases of Depends to McConnell, McCarthy, et al, to help them through this dark night of the souless.
-
Propagandee
Maybe we can take up a collection and send cases of Depends to McConnell, McCarthy, et al, to help them through this dark night of the souless.
I love how they use the melodramatic literary device of "at the stroke of midnight." Civiliation wars, after all, are serious stuff. Some of them, of course, use these techniques manipulatively, but many of them believe them, and I have no doubt that there are all sorts of individuals watching the clock, with accelerating heart beat, as the Hour of Danger is nigh upon us.
-
Glenn, So far, the two major “left” papers haven’t caught on
“Unsafe because he is the one who single-handedly ensured the death of this Vital Intelligence Tool. This is an extremely straightforward, clear and indisputable fact which even our national press corps ought to have no trouble conveying.”
The reporting is better. This is as close as WaPo and NYT have come and they haven’t given the stories much prominence.
WaPo:
But the dominant mood on the House Democratic side appeared to be a "take no more guff" attitude, combined with confidence that the Bush administration's credibility is at a low ebb. Democrats accused administration officials of putting the interests of private phone companies above national security.
Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), one of the most endangered House freshmen, said he agreed. "I've been rhetoriced to death by those guys, including the president," said Mahoney, who won his conservative district after scandal-scarred Republican Mark Foley resigned. "I think the American people are on to this guy."
Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), another swing-district freshman, wanted to force the House and Senate to stay in Washington and compromise, but he said he is firmly against the Senate's offer of retroactive immunity. "Coming from a military background, I sure don't downplay that there are threats out there," he said, "but the president's demagoguery on this is the equivalent of the boy crying wolf."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503195.html
NYT:
The decision by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to let the temporary surveillance law expire is the Democrats’ most forceful challenge to Mr. Bush on a major national security issue since they took control of Congress last year.
And with Democrats emboldened by Mr. Bush’s low poll ratings, the fight over the surveillance program could be a preview of battles to come, particularly over spending on Iraq.
Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, rejected that argument and said at a news conference that Mr. Bush was sending the wrong message to terrorists.
“The president’s rhetoric is inaccurate,” Mr. Hoyer said. “It’s also divisive — an attempt to stampede the House of Representatives to rubber-stamp legislation by appealing to the fears of the American people.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/washington/16fisa.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin
-
Use The Force, Glenn
Will the House of Representatives stay on target and protect the Constitution? The President's lies are so obvious, so blatant, so shrill.
The issue is retroactive telecom immunity. If the President/Senate's version of the FISA amendments becomes law, Americans will never know the extent of the Bush Administration's compicity in/direction of flagrantly illegal surveillance which, it bears repeating, American courts already have reviewed and ruled could not be reasonably believed to have been legal when instituted. The point of the retroactive immunity is not to protect telecoms from fishing expeditions or to thank them for their patriotism, because the law in effect when they did these things already provides/provided "good faith" immunity -- the point is they're not going to be able to meet that minimal standard. Seems like that might be important.
The issue of the importance of the telecom immunity fight has been laid bare for months, never better than by Senator Kennedy's succinct analysis on the Senate floor, where he connected the dots so well to show that Bush's veto threats quite clearly place telecom immunity ahead of "dead Americans" on his priority list. The issue almost caught the country's attention then, but not quite enough and the Senate caved to Bush's "be afraid, be very afraid, and it's your fault if you don't do whatever I want" crap.
But the House has balked. And, most notably, the Country itself now seems to be paying attention to why. In the past three days, we have seen Congressmen quote chapter and verse in opposition to the President's pathetic threats. We have seen Herr McConnell actually trapped into admitting that the issue that is really important to the President is NOT the ability or inability to conduct effective surveillance should the FISA amendments lapse, but is only telecom immunity. Not just Keith Olbermann, but places like the Rocky Mountain Whatever are outlining the reasons for refusing to cowtow to Bush on this telecom immunity issue.
What the Emperor has been telling us are his clothes are disappearing in the sunlight. It's time to turn on the bright lights.
Glenn's last post about this issue pointed out the reasonable concern that the House's adjournment in the face of Bush's recalcitrance might ultimately turn out to have been based on little more than pique. I am hopeful that the increasing groundswell of public recognition here might turn it into more than that.
It's a matter of the fundamental nature of our democracy. It's about whether we as a nation believe in the rule of law and the United States Constitution. It's about whether we as a nation will tolerate a president who does not respect his oath of office and who insists that he is above the law. We have to put a stop to this man's madness.
So, Glenn, glad to see you back commenting on this morning's paranoid rantings from the President. Don't let up. Thank you for your continuing voice of reason, we need to stop this man.
-
It sounds...
It sounds more like Bush and 'Mitch' are threatening the American people with great bodily harm and very likly death.
Does that mean that if there is an attack after midnight (which Bush could definitely pull of with his families terrorist ties) there will be congressional investigations into how Bush and 'Mitch' saw these attacks coming?
Well, I can hope, can't I...
Is it time for Orlando Bosch?