And Again, They Still Do Not Get It
Yes, if it were not for this party, there would be no solid political comedy in life. But the Democrats have proven once again that they are simply not serious about national security.
A Senate committee today approved a bill supported by President Bush that would enable the administration to continue a warrantless wiretapping program that the White House launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The approval came after Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked an amendment by Democrats that would have limited Bush's eavesdropping program and required the National Security Agency to report more often to Congress on its surveillance activities.
Democrats say the bill approved by the committee would expand -- as well as legalize -- Bush's authority to monitor terrorism suspects.
Bush has urged Congress to give him "additional authority" to continue his administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. This bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), after consultations with the White House.
In a speech last week to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the president said he needs more power to address continued threats.
The president promised to sign the bill into law only if it was not amended.
Today, Senate Republicans blocked Democratic amendments that called for the bill to expire in one year and required the National Security Agency to report more often to Congress on how it runs the wiretapping program.
"This bill is all about authorizing the President to invade the homes, e-mails and telephone conversations of American citizens in ways that are expressly forbidden by law," Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), ranking Democratic member on the committee, said in a statement released by his office today.
Leahy said Democratic members opposed the Republican-sponsored legislation because of "concerns about the sweeping authorities they granted the President and the federal government, without the proper checks and balances provided by the courts and Congress."
And those two statements alone are why I repeat the famous phrase used by Hugh Hewitt so often:
"I don't like you because you're gonna get me killed."
Such stupidity should be expected by the Democrats, but it is best left unsaid in an election year. The authority that the president has decided to go to Congress for--and authority that he has already, and should not be going to Congress for--is to enable our government to keep an eye on our enemies. Did Senator Leahy forget that in the recent raids conducted in Canada and Great Britain were made possible because of the NSA's terrorist surveillance program?
Yes, the same program that Senator Leahy, and his nutty colleagues in the Senate, believe to be illegal. That same program saved countless lives when the law enforcement and intelligence agencies acted on our intelligence. We helped nab those jihadists. But to these people the program is illegal (it is not) and should be ended (no it should not). You do not kill a program because it works. You kill a program when it fails. (Which is where most of insanity in Congress comes from; the support of programs that no longer work.)
And as for the "checks and balances" that Senator Leahy is so worried about, the president has the ultimate check on the program. He has the courts declaring his power legal and constitutional. What Senator Leahy and his cronies seem to forget is that the passage of the authorization for the use of military force measure automatically activates the president's wartime powers; powers that have never been challenged at any time in this nation's history. (Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus was challenged in the United States Circuit Court in Maryland, but Lincoln ignored the decision, and nothing further happened from it.)
And why is Senator Leahy throwing such a fit? Is Congress not a check against the president? Has the president not come to Congress to ask them for this authority? The president is working within the boundaries of the law, and I find it preposterous that he must take this step. But, as Judge Taney once noted, the president's powers are far more forceful and likely to be listened to with the consent of Congress. That is why the president is doing this.
But the reaction to the NSA program by the Democrats is equally idiotic. In a make-or-break election year for them, they are showing the nation that they lack what it takes to keep this nation protected. The NSA program does not infringe on any citizen's enumerated or inherent privacy rights. But fools like Senator Leahy keep showing the nation the true face of the Democrats that is best summed up by Hugh Hewitt:
"Every vote for any Congressional Democrat is a vote against victory and a vote for vulnerability."
Marcie
Yes, if it were not for this party, there would be no solid political comedy in life. But the Democrats have proven once again that they are simply not serious about national security.
A Senate committee today approved a bill supported by President Bush that would enable the administration to continue a warrantless wiretapping program that the White House launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The approval came after Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked an amendment by Democrats that would have limited Bush's eavesdropping program and required the National Security Agency to report more often to Congress on its surveillance activities.
Democrats say the bill approved by the committee would expand -- as well as legalize -- Bush's authority to monitor terrorism suspects.
Bush has urged Congress to give him "additional authority" to continue his administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. This bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), after consultations with the White House.
In a speech last week to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the president said he needs more power to address continued threats.
The president promised to sign the bill into law only if it was not amended.
Today, Senate Republicans blocked Democratic amendments that called for the bill to expire in one year and required the National Security Agency to report more often to Congress on how it runs the wiretapping program.
"This bill is all about authorizing the President to invade the homes, e-mails and telephone conversations of American citizens in ways that are expressly forbidden by law," Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), ranking Democratic member on the committee, said in a statement released by his office today.
Leahy said Democratic members opposed the Republican-sponsored legislation because of "concerns about the sweeping authorities they granted the President and the federal government, without the proper checks and balances provided by the courts and Congress."
And those two statements alone are why I repeat the famous phrase used by Hugh Hewitt so often:
"I don't like you because you're gonna get me killed."
Such stupidity should be expected by the Democrats, but it is best left unsaid in an election year. The authority that the president has decided to go to Congress for--and authority that he has already, and should not be going to Congress for--is to enable our government to keep an eye on our enemies. Did Senator Leahy forget that in the recent raids conducted in Canada and Great Britain were made possible because of the NSA's terrorist surveillance program?
Yes, the same program that Senator Leahy, and his nutty colleagues in the Senate, believe to be illegal. That same program saved countless lives when the law enforcement and intelligence agencies acted on our intelligence. We helped nab those jihadists. But to these people the program is illegal (it is not) and should be ended (no it should not). You do not kill a program because it works. You kill a program when it fails. (Which is where most of insanity in Congress comes from; the support of programs that no longer work.)
And as for the "checks and balances" that Senator Leahy is so worried about, the president has the ultimate check on the program. He has the courts declaring his power legal and constitutional. What Senator Leahy and his cronies seem to forget is that the passage of the authorization for the use of military force measure automatically activates the president's wartime powers; powers that have never been challenged at any time in this nation's history. (Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus was challenged in the United States Circuit Court in Maryland, but Lincoln ignored the decision, and nothing further happened from it.)
And why is Senator Leahy throwing such a fit? Is Congress not a check against the president? Has the president not come to Congress to ask them for this authority? The president is working within the boundaries of the law, and I find it preposterous that he must take this step. But, as Judge Taney once noted, the president's powers are far more forceful and likely to be listened to with the consent of Congress. That is why the president is doing this.
But the reaction to the NSA program by the Democrats is equally idiotic. In a make-or-break election year for them, they are showing the nation that they lack what it takes to keep this nation protected. The NSA program does not infringe on any citizen's enumerated or inherent privacy rights. But fools like Senator Leahy keep showing the nation the true face of the Democrats that is best summed up by Hugh Hewitt:
"Every vote for any Congressional Democrat is a vote against victory and a vote for vulnerability."
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 4:47 PM
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