Bless It And Move On

The Senate looks as if it is going to figure out how to quietly OK the NSA warrantless eavesdropping.

But has the House resolved the impeachment question?  Keep hope alive!

This Meet The Russert transcript from last Sunday is pretty interesting, as a study in buck-passing.

The guests were Senators Roberts and Daschle, and Congressfolk Harman and Hoekstra, all of whom were briefed on the program.

The key dynamic seems to be this - since, God forbid, we may be attacked again, no politician wants to be tagged as the person who disrupted the NSA program and let Americans die.  Bold.

Comments

[danking70]

As a commenter at rantburg said:

“After careful consideration (and many polls) Senators decide not to piss into the wind.”

[maryrose]

No one wants to be the person who gets tagged as the one who disrupted the NSA program.
Sounds like everyone is in CYA mode because most Americans approve of this program and
want to be proactive on the war on terrorism.

[kim]

You don't pull on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Rover,
And you don't mess around with him.

RIP you ol' junkyard jim.
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[danking70]

Who's the Lone Rover and what's the name of his sidekick? LOL!

[Extraneus]

I like how they blame Bush for disclosing the existance of the program, which then allowed them the freedom to consult their lawyers and find that maybe it was actually illegal, even though they didn't suspect that before he disclosed its existance (except possibly in notes they kept in their safes). I bet we'll be hearing that again.

[owl]

I end every email with "When we get hit again, I intend to shout your name as the person responsible, ye ole Overseer."

Yep, it must be working.

[Soylent Red]

Lone Rover sounds suspiciously like Lone Gunman.

Has Karl Rove accounted for his whereabouts on November 3, 1963?

Kennedy was Democrat you know...

[Soylent Red]

Seriously though...

I was so hoping that this would be brought to a vote. That would have been high political comedy, watching the Dems go on about how they really want to protect America, up to a point.

Even The Bald Man can't bat 1.000 I suppose.

[clarice]

Personally, I think we ought to start posting on MoveOn and Kos that the Dems are wimps for not insisting on hearings.
Love and kisses,'Y'er Fren
R/S/S

[Constant]

There's a way to compel Congress to investigate, even if they refuse: [ Click ]

If there's a way to "prove" the DNC is whining about nothing, what does the RNC have to fear?

[sammy small]

Oh yeah, lets compel Congress to blow down another house of cards the Dems have tried to set up. That's a real priority these days isn't it. Nothing else on the radar screen worthy of attention.

Constant, I would recommend a nice long vacation to get your mind right. Just let the serious players handle the serious business.

[clarice]

Get Kerry to do it. He was soooo heroic on the Alito filibuster. Do not sit around and let the DINOS ruin your party. LOL!!

[Lew Clark]

But can't the fifth estate "netroot" veto any action they might take and go straight to impeachment?

[clarice]

Lew, you agitator!

[richard mcenroe]

But they don't like die. Bold either, at least on election day...

[Extraneus]

Besides the "Jay Rockefeller’s letter is a, you know, is a private cry," from Harman, I especially liked this exchange, and what it seems to imply about Russert's understanding of the issue:

MR. RUSSERT: Congressman Hoekstra, should the reporters be subpoenaed?

REP. HOEKSTRA: Yeah, these are not whistleblowers. There’s a process for whistleblowers to go through their agencies or to come to Congress. The whistleblower process doesn’t say, “Go to The New York Times and let The New York Times decide whether something is vital to our national security or not.” You know, there’s a real threat out there. We need to be prepared to fight this threat. We had the tools in place. The New York Times released it, and James Risen had an economic interest in this. His book came out four weeks after The New York Times published this in their newspaper. That’s not appropriate.

MR. RUSSERT: But if this is a—but if this is a serious and legitimate constitutional debate between executive and legislative authority, shouldn’t the media be allowed to report on that from someone who was inside government who is troubled by this program?

REP. HOEKSTRA: If this person is troubled in government, there are a series of steps that they can take so that they do not jeopardize national security. They can go through their agencies. They can go through their inspector generals. They could come to the committees. They can come to Pat, myself, or Jane and say, “We are very, very troubled by what this administration is doing. You need to take a look at this.” They didn’t go there. It appears that they went directly to The New York Times, they went directly to James Risen. That is the wrong thing to do. You know, America’s...

MR. RUSSERT: They may have feared for reprisal. They may have feared that Congress wouldn’t do anything.

REP. HOEKSTRA: Well, that’s not their decision to make. Congress has outlined the laws by which this will happen. Their responsibility and their oath to keep these secrets confidential says this is how the whistleblower process works. It’s not in their option whether they’re going to abide by this law or not. The process is laid out. If that individual decides to use a process outside of the law or in violation of the law, they do it at their risk.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Daschle, should reporters by subpoenaed?

SEN. DASCHLE: Well, Tim, I deplore leaks and I think a lot of what Congressman Hoekstra has said is right.

[maryrose]

Extraneus:
I saw this program and was pleased to see Hoiekstra stand up for the established process. The Dems fell all over themselves saying how important the program is but why Daschle on the show? He's not a player anymore ; all he can talk about is the past. That's the dems biggest problem -they are stuck in the past pre-9'11 stuck on stupid. So I believe there will not be hearings, and that Congress will pass something to make themselves feel better about the process. Any leakers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,just like they've decided to do with Libby who was actually authorized to release UNCLASSIFIED information.

[kim]

Daschle sounds like he might be running for the Senate from a red state.
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