Murtha On The NSA

Rep. John Murtha spoke with Tim Russert on Meet The Press.  The primary topic was Iraq, but the interview ended with this exchange about the NSA program:

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat from Wisconsin, said the president should be censured for eavesdropping on telephone and computers of—by Americans. Would you support such a censure?

REP. MURTHA: Well, if it were illegal, it, it’s certainly something we have to look at. I, I think there’s—I, I don’t know enough about the issue. Even though we have complete responsibility for, for oversight and, and funding, funding it. I had a briefing the other day, I’m satisfied the safeguards that are in place are significant, but we have to look at whether it’s illegal or not. I, I’m hesitant to say the president ought to be censured before a committee looks at it and really investigates it and comes up with some real conclusions.

Breathing fire.

MORE:  Before the editor got to it, the last line was "Breathing fire, or passing gas?"  Maybe I should fire the editor.

And no, there was nothing on his recent subpoena in the Libby case.  Imagine my surprise.

Comments

[ajacksonian]

"I don’t know enough about the issue."
-Representative John Murth (D - Ignorance)

It is the state that so many live in these days, upon the Hill.

[kim]

Safe, but maybe not legal? Your duty is clear, lawmaker.
==========================

[maryrose]

Why do dems continue to beat this drum when it is so obvious this is to better secure our nation. This whole issue is a no-brainer. Dems either get with the program or we will find senators and representatives that will.

[richard mcenroe]

Because, Maryrose, they are the party of negation. All they have is repudiation of anything the Bush administration does, because their core "beliefs" and policies have been rejected again and again.

[Rick Ballard]

I think they're against negation, too.

[Dwilkers]

Actually I think they're opposed to that position Rick.

[Terrye]

How the hell are they going to get up the nerve to impeach Bush if they can not even bring themselves to censure him?

[richard mcenroe]

Terrye — They're okay if they don't have to say his name. Maybe they'll call him President Voldemort or something in the speeches.

[Terrye]

richard:

They will be lost without him. Think of it, Bush will go back to the ranch and there they will be fretting and sweating and twisting their hankies in their hot little hands while they twitch and titter.

[Sue]

And they have Dick Durbin on FoxNews Sunday saying impeachment for the NSA wiretapping is on the table. Weird. Just plain weird.

I vote we keep the editor. If I get a vote, that is.

[danking70]

Durbin said that? Impeachment is on the table? After they ran away from censure, while some called Feingold's move a political stunt?

Quick where's the MSM with the D.Rather patented hard-hitting follow-up question???

[Terrye]

danking:

I read it over at polipundit. I have not actually checked the transcript.

[Sue]

danking,

Google Dick Durbin and Chris Wallace. It will pull up the transcript.

[Sue]

WALLACE: So you're saying that impeachment is a possibility.

DURBIN: I'm not ruling it in or out at this point in time. I think, in fairness to our government, and to be as honest as I can be, we need more information about the nature of this program and whether, in fact, it violated the law. If we find that it did...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188365,00.html>Durbin on Fox

[MayBee]

Oh man-

DURBIN: Having served on the Intelligence Committee, I can tell you they put you in a box. They tell you the secret information and then say you're sworn to secrecy. You can't repeat it.

So to suggest that you can then hold a president or any member of the administration accountable publicly would mean that you'd have to break the law and leak information to the press, which many of us are loathe to do, as we should be. So we're in a terrible situation here, being given information and you can't do anything with it.

OK, well the whole sworn to secrecy thing sure sounds ominous, doesn't it. I mean, it puts you in a box.

In my second bolded statement, the words to watch are: many (not all), and loathe (not refuse).

[danking70]

How about a closed session of Congress, dick?

I would sure love to see Harry Reid do that again. What? You say those are only used for political stunts?

[topsecretk9]

maybee

you'd have to break the law and leak information to the press, which many of us are loathe to do,

Yeah, they loathe it when it turns into an investigation of them.

[topsecretk9]

BTW

because of the above loathing

I'm not ruling it in or out at this point in time. I think, in fairness to our government,

Yeah, with the NSA leak investigation, I'll bet it's not off the table for Durbin.

[willem]

I caught about 5 minutes of this on the radio today before I turned it off in complete disgust. Two showboating narcissists of malignant character was more than I could stand on a Sunday.

[TM]

I think they're against negation, too.

Well, Kerry was for negation before he was against it.

Ahh, the good old days...

[kim]

I hear Kerry finally regrets authorizing the war funds. Maybe he can get a quick photo-op with Saddam.
===================================

[Lew Clark]

I real feel sorry DD and the others. I didn't realize the level of loathing they were having to endure to do the right and patriotic thing. But they can take comfort that their statues will be placed in that "Hall of Heroes" where we remember all those brave souls who overcame similar obstacles to give aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war.

[topsecretk9]

On the Senate side, Sen. Harry Reid and his chairman of the DSCC, Sen. Chuck Schumer, continue to press the anti-war rhetoric as key to their success. On Thursday afternoon, Reid took heat from some members for his soft response to Republicans who called Democrat bluffs on a censure vote against President Bush for the NSA overseas terrorist monitoring program.

According to sources with knowledge of the closed-door meeting, Reid pushed back on his colleagues, telling them that it wasn't a good idea to vote to censure anyone with ties to the NSA program, particularly since there was a criminal investigation underway to determine who had leaked the NSA program's specifics, and that investigation could enmesh one or more of their own.

Ahem.

[bj]

Bush Spied; al-Qeada Died, eh?

Sounds like another loser for the left.

[MayBee]

ts- interesting. Rest assured one or more of their own would have been loathe to do it. But...They were trapped! In a box!

[Jake - but not the one]

Well, color me shocked! That no one here actually recognizes that Bush has admitted breaking the law (specifically FISA) but, hey, he must be keeping us safe, so it's ok.

Not.

The way I see it, either it's a law, or it isn't a law. If it is, then Bush should follow it. Now, if the administration's claim of Unitary privilege is sustainable, then bring it on, let's take it to the courts and resolve it.

But NOOOOO, he says, it's legal 'cause my best lawyer buddies tell me it is. We don't need a court, thank you.

Well, y'all might not feel the need for, ya know, an actual court to pass judgement on Bush's claims, but *I* do, and I sure appreciate if y'all'd humor me and actually, ya know, investigate the whole thing.

On the other hand, I hear there is a suit in Oregon that may bypass the whole issue of the Rubber Stamp congress. We can only hope.

Jake

[kim]

Chrome Dome leaned back and observed the reflected glare rocketing from his beamsource up through the chandelier. Congress? Rubber stamp nothing? No SS? No smartest judge in Texas? No confidence in the competence? Enough pearls before swine. Time to turn the demons loose in Oregon.
=================================

[clarice]

R/S/S was laughing so hard he had to run to the bathroom before taking the call from his lawyer.
"How much longer are we going to let the sweater sweat before we pull the plug on the 'Eliot Ness with a Harvard law degree'"? he asked.
Luskin was laughing, too"See what we did to shit for brains in the Cowles case? Jeffrees has something even better waiting"

"That Comey tap-dance--forget what I said I didn't mean it, made me spill coffee all over my desk. Imagine Fitz' face when he saw the witness list. When this is over he'll have to wear a disguise to get back into this town again. And then there's that clown saying Libby can't be trusted handling classified material right after he turned over 16 boxes worth of classified documents to defense counsel in the biggest terrorist case in the country"
"He's not the only one. There's Harlow and Armitage and Wilson and Plame. (R/S/S doubled over laughing.)"I have to run,talk later," he said to Luskin.
He didn't have to run..it's just that the thought of Wilson answering Welles' questions about the forgeries, Pincus and Cooper and Russert being exposed made him laugh so hard he was literally rolling on the floor.
Just as he caught his breath, the vision of Armitage on the stand made him double over again.

[maryrose]

Schrummy/Rove chuckled softly to himself.The Bush/Cheney pushback was working just like he knew it would. The crowd in West Virginia with their standing ovation was gratifying. Take that dems! That going mano a mano with old Sourpuss Helen Thomas was clear Rovian genius. " God it felt good to have the press pack on the run on defense." Just a bunch of hacks anyway. The race for governor with Rendell and Swann was going beautifully with the polls showing both parties even in Pennsylvania. Michigan governor's race also a toss-up. 2006 was shaping up to be a real barn-burner. Rove had one more phone call before hitting the sack- " Get me Kean Jr. on the phone" he barked to his assistant..

[AA]

What's that supposed to mean "the president
broke the law"? The president is the law.
And terrorists are outside the law. Kill 'em
first, then wiretap them, then try them, and then - only then - put 'em in front of a judge. Just in case.

[maryrose]

Fitz was feeling quite desperate. " My life is going to hell in a handbasket" he thought as he wiped sweat off his brow. "I'm like the opposite of Midas, Everything I touch turns to crap." " I gotta get out of this back-stabbing crazy town and back to sweet home Chicago" " "Comey and I were riding high there for a while with all of Washington awaiting my indictments. What a rush! And now all I can do is head for the exit. I wish I'd never heard the names Wilson and Plame/.

[Rick Ballard]

Judge Kennedy was mightily vexed. His summary of the defense Motion to Dismiss had taken him two hours to prepare. The defense claims were clear and cogent and the citations were on point. It was a clever argument, well supported but susceptible to rebuttal at several points. The prosecution response before him defied summary. He had seen such responses before but never by a US Attorney. It reminded him of a comment that he had heard once after an interminible (and finally, incomprehensible) sermon, "That preacher learned how to takeoff but no one ever taught him how to land".

Patrick Fitzgerald's stomach was bothering him again. It was only 6:30 and he had several hours worth of work to complete before he could think about sleeping. Fitzgerald did a lot of his work in the evening, in fact, the majority of the response to the Motion to Dismiss had been done right here in his apartment. His stomach had been bothering him then too and he had been delighted when a 'joke' gift of a case of Maalox had arrived just as he was beginning to work on the response. It must have been his team here in Chicago. Who else would be so thoughtful? As he entered the kitchen his nose curled slightly - there was something not quite right according to what he smelled but he couldn't think of what it might be. He poured a double dose of Maalox into a water glass and carried it back to the den. He had a lot of work to complete and it seemed that every night there was more and more. What used to take him a half an hour now seemed to take an hour and a half. Must be that middle age thing, he thought to himself as he settled down to work.

Karl Rove looked at the "Friends of Fitz" signature on the card that he would slip into another 'gag' gift destined for Chicago. He mulled adding "We're with you to the end." as a postscript but then thought better of it. No sense in adding insult to injury. He placed the card in the box and the box under his arm. He had a fund raiser to attend in Milwaukee in the morning and the box would be overnighted from there. Out of the blue, as it were.

[kim]

Joe surveyed the crowd at the junior college auditorium in the state capitol. The crowd was jovial, many greeting each other, clearly glad to see and be seen. He was assured of their friendliness by the warm-up from the college newspaper reporter and the representative of the speaker's committee. He felt sure they knew little of what he was about to speak.

Suddenly he had the most immediate feeling of being directed. His eyes turned to the edge of the audience where a young cornrowed black man was shushing his young twin daughters. One of them had pigtails. She had Condi's teeth. Abruptly, he was overwhelmed with the impression that she understood everything and even forgave.

Through the shivering and shaking and sweating he explained as well as he could to the surprised audience that a small family emergency had come up. He had to get home and talk to his kids.
==================================

[clarice]

Teresa wasn't happy. John had talked her into funneling millions through her personal money laundering outfit, Tides Foundation, to some cuckoo Imams in Afghanistan. The plan--per Shrum--was to get them to condemn a Christian convert to death. And now Karzai was saying that wouldn't happen so Plan 1,400,999 to destroy Chimpbushitler had gone the way of all the other plans. Even Teresa was catching on that maybe it wasn't Bush who was stupid. Or maybe he was but his opponents were even dumber.
The idea made her so angry she swigged a gallon jug full of gin soaked raisins. And she didn't have arthritis.
Oh well, there's that cookbook to work on--the one with all those rabbit recipes which she insisted American women should feed their children..I mean it worked so well on her kids..

[maryrose]

Val opened her eyes to yet another sunny California morning. "My life is as dull as dirt" she thought restlessly. " I miss the action, the intrigue, my AK47. These twins are driving me nuts and Joe is God knows where at some two bit college that is using tuition dollars to pay to hear him pontificate on how he saved the world. My life is in the toilet, my career over because I fell for his guile and charm. Now I'm stuck in exile so he could get his mojo on and feel like a player again. And to think we had dreams of being part of the Kerry WH. Pipe dreams if you ask me. Kerry sure dropped us like a hot potato after that SSCI hearing exposed Joe's slick underbelly. I wish I was back in Washington-all the action is there and I'm nowhere."

[Neo]

I came upon this tidbit ..

the FISA rules demand that a surveillance request that doesn't meet the the judge’s stringent standards is rejected and the target is notified of the surveillance

Given that at least two FISA judges would not accept NSA evidence, this sort of takes the wind out of the FISA arguments.

[kim]

The Depilated One gazed into the flat screen en face. Murtha's pawing the ground again. Time to activate the plant in Florida. He dialed through the names, Cretacean, Cretin, Chretien, there it is, Tomas. He closed the laptop and concentrated, feeling the energy flow south.

The wannabe spook awoke with a start. 'That's it! They thought I was al Qaeda and bugged me, a fine American citizen, with rights. I'm calling the paper.'
======================================

[larwyn]

It had been a close call Thursday afternoon, perhaps he was pushing it with Rummy also on a roll.

His insider at the Pentagon said Barbs Starr's cheeks were still bright pink this morning, and
that was after CNN's crack makeup people had spent hours applying that green undertoner.

Jamie McIntyre was similarly affected, but he didn't have to appear on camera on a predetermined schedule. Pam asked him if he had an advance copy of MoDo's Saturday talking points
- Jamie glowed bright and ran
to see if that green stuff was working on Starr.

He smiled and then shuttered. There he was using his best Shrummy voice on Howie,
telling him the latest brainstorm of the finest Dem strategists....."Yeah, Howard,
we figure this will work on several levels. And it's short and will fit on bumper stickers
and T-shirts. Are you ready.....cause it's
a real doozy. Wait Howard, I know that 6 thing was crazy. 6 in 06! That wasn't bad - but Reid and Pelosi wouldn't agree on which 6 ideas they were going with.
That's how that 60 in 06 came up. You know 60 Senators. Yeah it was a real pisser that they leaked it to the CNN jerk, before anyone really looked at it. Well, I do appreciate it that you called
me and said "What the f*** are they doing?" That's why I'm giving you this.".....

It was then the light went on that the real Shrum was dialing Fineman at this very moment.

In a whisper "can't talk now,
other people just came in,
just write this down and don't mention it to me.......
The Jack Bauer President,
call you right back.... Jack's the word"

And there he was with Chris Matthews on tonight's Hardball smirking at the damn cleverness of the new Dem/LSM "Bush Ridicule Strategy", the new BRS unveiled:

BUSH, THE JACK BAUER PRESIDENT

Take that GW! Ha! Ha!

"Wonder if all my new laugh lines are getting noticed by the media" he thought, as he convulsed again.