Think Progress

Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) on Bush’s

By Judd Legum on Dec 17th, 2005 at 7:51 pm

Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) on Bush’s

domestic spying program: “Well, the fact of the matter is that the Constitution is the Constitution, and I took an oath to abide by — and the president did — if you have any government official who deliberately orders that federal law be violated despite the best of motives, that certainly ought to be of concern to us.”



24 Responses to “Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) on Bush’s”

  1. Nathan says:

    I agree with Bob Barr?????? I better stand up so the monkeys that are about to fly out of my butt don’t get stuck!


  2. HeyMan says:

    Well..Bob Barr is a traitor, terrorist sympathizer and he hates America. He has to be wrong. I guess Bush needs to start spying on him.


  3. James says:

    http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/hr2883.html
    Scroll to Sec 314 “Technical Ammendments”
    There is, at present, a 72 hour window in which the feds can do WHATEVER they wish WITHOUT A WARRANT before an application for such a warrant must be lodged with FISA.

    This renders all arguments relating to the inconvenience of getting warrants when there are only ‘minutes to act’ or the ‘ticking bomb’ excuse. The arguments do not deserve to be heard.

    Prior to 01 the feds had a 24 hour window. Please note that a 72 hour window is actually much more – DOJ can use procedural motions to delay an actual hearing on the warrant for at least another 24 hours.


  4. Ryan Neat says:

    The last time a president spied on other americans without a warrant, it was called watergate!


  5. mindtonic says:

    I think we have all had enough of this self-righteous, vigilante style government. It is time for accountability and balance in our system.


  6. just john says:

    Nathan — I know the feeling.

    When he was in Congress, Barr was a total prick.

    Ryan — Betcha there have been instances since Watergate. We just might not know about them.


  7. Christine says:

    So would this fit in the definition of despotic government? Or has our ancestral training to live within the confines of industral society become our reflective consent and a symbolic representation, by way of the current leadership, of our conditioned appetites for energy and the attachment to the lifestyle it produces? How willing to face the truth of our economy and energy infrastructure are we?


  8. Pete Bogs says:

    it’s a strange world when I agree with impeacher Bob Barr, but he’s been vehemently against the Patriot Act…


  9. hardass says:

    Bob Barr a Republican made the “enemy’s list” .Congratulation Bob , joint the majority of Americans.


  10. RunningDogLackey says:

    Thank you, Bob Barr. Now, can we finally remove this wretched little Caligula from the Oval Office?


  11. Hardy Haberman says:

    Agreeing with a Republican? Well I guess that just shows what extrordinary times these are. Why no congressperson has not called for an impechment is beyond me.


  12. Susan says:

    This guys a former rep. He learned the hard way.

    Support the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and lose your job.

    Most pugs will put it on the record that Bubble boy crossed the line, that is if they want to keep their jobs.


  13. Gone At Last says:

    I’ll always fondly remember dear Bob when he was a young and fearless congressman. He first made himself a household name in the late 90s by launching a sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing campaign to ban Pagan religious observances on U.S. military bases.

    His argument was that neo-Paganism wasn’t a “real religion” — and thus proclaimed himself as the sole arbiter of what “real religion” should be in the eyes of the U.S. military.

    Of course (apart from several hundred soldiers whose religion suddenly became a matter for official persecution), the whole thing collapsed pretty quickly in the harsh glare of the First Amendment. Still, it galvanized Bob’s base, and endeared him forever to the most rabid fundamentalist elements in the South.

    THAT Bob Barr may be having a rare decent moment here, but he’ll have to dig a lot harder to get himself out of the doghouse with me.


  14. WaltTheMan says:

    The Republican party were the party of Lincoln, the Republicans of today are the party of oppression. May any Diety save us all.


  15. Granite State Destroyer says:

    Five years ago this very day, our Dear Leader uttered these words in public:

    “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier…just as long as I’m the dictator…”
    –Washington, DC, Dec 18, 2000, during his first trip to Washington as President-Elect

    Congratulations George W. Bush.


  16. Tony W says:

    #12 Susan, as someone who resides in Bob Barr’s former district, he lost because of a redistricting that put him up against even someone more far to the right than Bob Barr. I know,how can you be more far to the right than Bob Barr, but they found someone. Since leaving office, Bob joined the ACLU, and has been a spokeperson at Georgia ACLU events. While in Congress Bob was a whacko, he probably still is to some extent, but since leaving he been a staunch supporter of the ACLU, and no fan of King Georgie.


  17. Tobin says:

    Some how I think Bush’s legal troubles are going to come back to bite him, sooner rather than later.


  18. Scott says:

    But Executive Privilege rightly extends to any quaint or inconvenient things like treaties or the Constitution. Hey, if its good enough for Pinochet, its good enough for Amerika!


  19. richb says:

    One of the more intersting statements in the President’s radio rebuttal, was his assertion that Member’s of Congress were briefed. I believe that Rep. Pelosi stated she had been briefed.

    Should be interesting on the Sunday Talk how the spin by the various interests is presented.

    for the record, I am a Republican….vehemently against the actions that were taken. I think a line in sand moment has occured on how we as Americans want to be governed. If the DOJ signed off on this, on what did they base the ability to override the Constitution?


  20. the Fly-man says:

    So here is what’s next: Alito will be railroaded thru confirmations and this Executive priv. thing will go to the Supreme court and it will approved. Remember we are at War. As long as that green light is on all bets are off. This has been palnned for a long time folks. You vote for the man to uphold the constitution and appoint judges. Harriet Meirs was a total smoke screen. The real crew is about to take the helm. My question is did the DOD’s office of dis-imformation go away or just morph itself into something else. EPIC.ORG rules.


  21. David B says:

    Perhaps Senator Spector’s investigation next year will lay the basis for impeachment. I mean he admitted circumventing federal law not once but 30 times. Time for King George the Ignorrant to go and take the whole cabal with him.


  22. Pablo in Mexico says:

    Come on folks, please.

    Bush was not ELECTED in 2000, he was appointed by SCOTUS. The AG of your great country has an opinionn all ready for the Amurkan people.

    Since Bush was only ELECTED one time, he can run for prez again. The appointment by SCOTUS does not count.



  23. kevo says:

    I am not in the same arena of conservatism as former Representative Barr – fire and brimstone have never been my call to duty. As rabid as he has been known to be in the past, his observations this time do not surprise me. I have always seen Mr. Barr through the prism of a human-being living out the generational knowledge of his geographic domain. This more than anything explains Mr. Barr’s public interactions and his exercise of legislative power. Yet, Bob Barr has, in my mind, always recognized the rule of law, and it is this one simple observation that can keep people of difference in the same local, state and/or national arena working to uphold the precious tenets of small d democracy. As for Mr. Bush and his galoots, the rule of law seems to be merely a slight obstacle to the implementation of policy.

    People on the left, spin the message tightly, as we on the right have learned to do so. That message IS the rule of law. Spin this message, and we on the right will listen even if some of us have been flirting with empire lately.
    -Kevo



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