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December 19, 2005
Spies Like Us
We were not able to catch President Bush's news conference this morning. An event so rare is normally not to be missed, but it's tough to get out of those holiday obligations. Today's reports detail some fireworks, particularly concerning revelations of an Administration-approved plan that has been electronically surveilling Americans since shortly after 9-11.
The President vigorously defended the program, claiming it both legal and necessary to combat the war on terrorism, or "terra", as it is known at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He also chastised Congress for failing so far to renew the Patriot Act, despite the President's own rejection of a bipartisan plan to temporarily restore its powers. But apparently, surveillance was topic #1.
Mr. Bush asserted that the monitoring of telephone and email communications of other Americans is legal, and was done with proper civil liberty safeguards. He even called the leak of such surveillance "shameful", and abetting the enemy. He claimed Constitutional authority to do the monitoring, and said Congressional leadership was briefed repeatedly on what was happening. Mr Bush bristled at a reporter's suggestion that the surveillance may amount to unchecked authority by the executive branch of government.
Not surprisingly, Democratic Senators disputed the President's version of events and cried foul. Levin of Michigan and Feingold of Wisconsin scoffed at the notion that Congress was adequately briefed and reminded the public that we do not elect kings in America.
Perhaps more surprising was the negative reaction Mr. Bush's remarks drew from conservative legal scholars and Members of Congress, including John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Arlen Spector, suggesting that Congressional Members of both parties are tired of being railroaded by the Administration and are seeking to re-establish some distance between the branches of Federal government.
If Mr. Bush had hoped his remarks would quell the now bipartisan grumbling over the surveillance revelations, he must be disappointed. Maybe he could have listened in on their conversations about it and saved himself the suspense.
Posted by houtopia at December 19, 2005 04:37 PM