Was Karl Rove Briefed On Bush’s Warrantless Spying Program?
Was Karl Rove Briefed On Bush’s Warrantless Spying Program?
Hats off to the Washington Post for its editorial yesterday on the White House’s politicization of the NSA warrantless wiretapping story. The silence of editorial boards since Karl Rove decided to make a sensitive national security program the subject of a national campaign has been deafening.
But there’s an important question that hasn’t been asked: Has Karl Rove been briefed about this sensitive program?
If Rove has been briefed about it then the White House has more questions to answer. Why does someone who is currently under investigation for leaking sensitive information have access to a program so sensitive that the President is refusing to consider a change in the law because doing so would “tell the enemy what we’re doing� Why was Rove breifed and not elected members of Congress that serve on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees?
If Rove has not been briefed on the program – and there is no reason why he should have been briefed – then you have to wonder: why is he urging people to spend the next 11 months campaigning about a program about which he knows nothing other than what has been in the press? (Right-wing unity is legendary, of course, but I wonder if they will sign up for a campaign about a program that the President won’t even tell them about.)
These are questions that the White House will be very reluctant to address. But that doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t ask.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Rove knows everything. You can count on that.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:03 amDo you have some information about Rove’s level of security clearance? Why would being under investigation for something that started in 2004 affect his being briefed in 2001? The issue is his security clearance isn’t it? Not when he might have been briefed.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:05 amBriefed on this illegal activity? Hellfire, this was probably Roves idea in the first place.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:11 amIn 2001, he wasn’t even Deputy Chief of Staff, he was just a political advisor so there would be less of a reason for him to be breifed.
Also, presumably the breifings about the program are ongoing. It’s renewed every 45 days. Is he still be breifed?
January 28th, 2006 at 10:12 amcome on everyone, his security clearance? This man is bush’s brain, have you forgotten? I’m sure he’s the author
January 28th, 2006 at 10:16 amIt would not be surprising if Rove was informed about the NSA spying program! There seems to be some Rove finger prints on it, because he believes the president should act like a dictator! Rove likes to tell Bush that he can do anything he wants, including torture, so why not spying?
January 28th, 2006 at 10:22 amJudd,but don’t you think it has to do with his security clearance? Let’s assume that it doesn’t matter what role he had,so long as he had some official role(and he did),one of the questions you have raised is who was legally obligated to be informed. Does that legislation proscribe sharing the information? I haven’t seen that in the legislation,that issue would be most affected by the need to know and the security clearance,wouldn’t it?
January 28th, 2006 at 10:22 amTJM -political advisers don’t get Top Secret compartmentilised security clearences, and since this is an NSA program that was restricted to the “gang of eight” in congress, then from a security standpoint a lowly political adviser would have no reason to know about this program let alone get a breifing. From the national security standpoint political advisers have no role.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:33 amHave you noticed how they silently started to put him back in camera view? OF course he knows ALL and is ALL,in Bush’s evil eyes.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:34 amI thought that it was already common knowledge that Rove knows absolutely everything about what Bush touches with his peanut butter covered hands.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:36 amWe have known for some time that Rove, Bush, this administration politicize everything. It is sad, danagerous, and it is breaking the foundation of our country. I think, especially after the trend of the last 5 years, it is clear where Rove goes so does disaster. Bush, Rove, never trust what they say, ever! Question everything, get the facts, research…
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/
January 28th, 2006 at 10:39 amFrom ‘A Few Good Men’:
January 28th, 2006 at 10:40 amCol. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I’m entitled.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth.
Col. Jessep: You can’t handle the truth.
Clif,the NSA program was hardly restricited to the gang of eight.That was a typical administration dodge of observing the letter of the law,the gang was required to be informed,but one of my questions was did the law proscribe the information from being disseminated beyond that. There is an issue of “need to know” as well as the requisite clearance.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:41 amLet’s assume Rove was informed.how would that be illegal?It might be because the law required the information to NOT be shared but I don’t see where that comes from. Do you?
Congressional leaders WERE briefed on the NSA program a long time ago – as Jay Rockefeller and Nancy Pelosi have since admitted. Congress acquiesced in the conduct of this terrorist surveillance, which is just one of the many solid pieces of constituional evidence in its favor.
As for Rove, he retains his security clearance, and he is not a target of any investigation. Period. Perhaps you should bark up another tree.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:42 amHey man, Im just a Democrat whos trying not to kill himself ove the constant stream of fascist news , taking it day by day.
We’re all here posting look at this look at this… and NOBODY CARES ********** THE MEDIA has sold out to the RNC and the corporations.
The way TV news treats Rove, they’ll never criticize him over ANYTHING. Even if hes indicted. The whole crime family gets a pass…
Look at last week with the 3 or 4 unforgivable things Matthews said, the media WAS ON HIS SIDE.
I’m afraid the Democratic party is fucked and America is lost… I just dont have any hope anymore.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:43 amTJM,
I believe the point is whether or not Rove’s been briefed lately, or had access to information that would inform his current publicly-announced strategy of using the program for political gain.
Any other government employee under the suspicion he’s under would have had his security clearance yanked when this issue first came to light.
He’s also obligated, via his signed security clearance agreements, to keep his mouth shut about classified info, regardless of whether his clearance has been pulled. If the program is still classified, he may be in breach of that agreement by discussing it as a means by which GOP’ers can win elections.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:43 amRed,
What a desperate-sounding statement.
1) A few congressional leaders were told of the program, and told they couldn’t discuss it or basically do anything about it without breaking the law. That’s not quite the same thing; it’s also the case that required disclosures were not made.
2) Rove is under investigation. For any other fed, that would mean a pulled security clearance. It’s obvious you really don’t know anything about this sort of thing.
So sorry, Red. We like this tree, and we think we’ll keep barking here, thanks.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:47 amObviously, the answer is yes. Anybody who’s noticed the White House attack once the story first broke can see that it’s Karl Rove 101: do something so obvious, so shocking, so brazen, that your opponents will be too shocked or amazed to react — thereby giving the partisans who applaud such bare-knuckled tactics enough steam to fall in line and defend said obvious, shocking, brazen act.
And I can’t help but also notice that ever since Bush came out in December to brag about what he did, that the collective media — which until then was really pounding Bush on a variety of subjects — suddenly did a 180, and since then we’ve been seeing the sickening Alito coverage, CNN doing everything it can to become Fox News Atlanta, Chris Matthews’ final descent into irredeemable irrelevance, and Tim Russert spending time asking Democrats about Harry Belafonte instead of Al Gore.
Coincidence? STFU.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:55 amThe silence of editorial boards since Karl Rove decided to make a sensitive national security program the subject of a national campaign has been deafening.
Wha? Rove hasnt silenced anyone as far as I can tell. If the Average person would stop and think for a Second that all the information that Rove speaks of, IS AND HAS been for many YEARS information that ANYONE can find on the Internet.
The Secret doesnt lie in the NAME of the SIGINT but the Filtering of the INFORMATION after its collected. They are FLTERING words. Bushco and Rove have once again inflated nothing into something just because Bubble boy got caught Spying. As for the Editorial Boards, if they buy into what ROVE says then they are Fools and have fallen onto Roves Game.
SIGINT has been around since the 70s. Bush or Rove or Cheney
wouldnt Know a Terrorist unless they Shook his hand and had an adviser tell them who they were. This whole Deal About letting the enemy ‘KNOW’ is like the FAUX war on Christmas.
Once again it was Agents that reported the ABUSE by Bushco and they didnt release any national secrets nor harm National Security.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:56 amBushco Spied before 911 did they stop the Terror Attacks?
Noooooo. So in essence by Bushco meddling they likely weakened National Security by Ignoring the PDBs, the Clarkes, Condi Ignored memos. and Bushco shut down the Able Danger program though it had found three cells of SAUDI terrorists out of the 5 Saudi Terror cells
noo
The point is that given the secrecy surrounding the program you do not give information to a political adviser, IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, having dealt with classified information during my. service in the US Army I know that the more people who know the greater the chance the secret will slip out. The “gang of eight”( which includes both Rockefeller and Pelosi) were briefed but were told not to TELL ANYONE. The NSA has always been more secret than the CIA, and their programs are usually compartmentalised to keep anyone who does not have a need to know from the information. NO political adviser or assistant anything in the white house would have a need to know unless they were working in national security which Karl Rove did and does not
January 28th, 2006 at 11:00 amNo sorry Kythe,that’s not the point. The post doesn’t say recently and again,so what? The underlying question is if he was briefed as to the existence of a program,was he informed of the results and did he, perchance, attempt to use the reults as fodder for some other purpose like say what may have been Bolton’s use of program results.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:04 amI don’t think that Rove wasn’t informed,I think he was, but it just doesn’t seem like there’s a ‘coon up this particular tree.
For an historical example of a top secret compartmentalised program, Harry Truman didn’t know about the Manhatten Project until after Roosevelt had died and Harry was president. T
January 28th, 2006 at 11:06 amTJM, I think you are a little confused on this point.
As to your question in #7: there is no legislation. That’s the point. This program was done outside of the law.
As for security clearances, all the members of the House and Senate Intelligence committees have them. But they weren’t informed.
Moreover, they STILL aren’t being informed. And it may very well be that Rove still is.
So we may have a political operative suspected of leaking classified information getting briefed while members of the House and Senate intelligence committees — who are legally obligated to be breifed — were left in the dark.
That’s pretty messed up.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:09 amWashington Post Blasts White House/GOP Take On Democrats On Warrantless Wiretaps…
The Washington Post h……
January 28th, 2006 at 11:15 amBush or Rove or Cheney wouldnt Know a Terrorist unless they Shook his hand and had an adviser tell them who they were.
Comment by Wolfoputz
Yea, but Bush shakes a lot of terrorists’ hands, has an advisor tell him who they are, and probably has pictures taken with them. But hey, that’s his job. It’s hard work! He can’t be expected to remember all of those terrorists.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:22 amI hate to belabor the point and I’ll just say thanks for the response, I actually hope the Specter hearings will shine some light on these issues.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:22 amI would like to point out that I don’t think I’m confused although as Lenny Bruce once said of Nixon when he was Veep,”that’s a self-serving statement and intended to be so.”
I wouldn’t go as far as a ‘hats off’ to the wapo when they’re still aggressively peddling the ‘abramoff directed money to both parties’ crap.
So they’re doing a good job reporting on one story. Whoo.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:33 amThe simple fact is, our country is being morphed into something new and potentially menacing, supposedly in response to a danger that isn’t that great in the larger scope of things.
Example: The emergency is great enough to undermine Consitutional guarantees and elevate the office of the presidency to near-imperial power, while simultaneously failing to provide basic physical protection and civil emergency procedures for chemical plants.
No. . . this has nothing to do with terrorism, except as an excuse. This has everything to do with a well-thought-out plan to turn the USA into a fascistic, corporate totalitarian state.
We’re only seeing the beginning of it now. Let’s see what happens come election time in ‘08. I predict there will be a new emergency making the democratic process even less democratic thatn it was last time around.
You watch.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:49 amConflict of Interest? Cronyism?
Negropontes Brother (MIT) is Heading up ‘Datamining program’ MIT; In November 2005, at the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis, Negroponte unveiled a $100 laptop computer designed for students in the developing world. The project is part of a broader program by One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit started by Negroponte and other Media Lab faculty, to extend Internet access in developing countries.
Negroponte remains Chairman of the MIT Media Lab, as well as sitting on several boards including Motorola and Ambient Devices. He has invested in over 30 startup companies over the last 30 years, including Zagats, Wired, Ambient Devices, and Skype.
He is the brother of United States Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:51 am#14
ac·qui·esce
To consent or comply passively or without protest.
You are a fvcking liar. Just because you type it here doesn’t make it true. The Congressional members who were brief on this illegal wiretapping were GAGGED.
gagged
To stop or restrain from exercising free speech
They could not talk about the program to anybody, so Jay Rockefeller sent a letter of dissent to Vice President Dick Cheney. Who I am sure just growled at it, wadded it up and threw it away.
But say “Congress acquiesced” is a flat out lie and you know it moron. Stop posting lies for your leader. They pay you welll enough to sell your soul. This stuff does aount when you reach the pearly gates you know. WWJD.
Here’s the PDF for safe keeping:
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2005/12/rock121905.pdf
Here’s the body in clear text:
July 17, 2003
Dear Mr. Vice President,
I am writing to reiterate my concern regarding the sensitive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI, DIRNSA, and Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.
Clearly the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician or an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.
As I reflected on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter’s TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveiliance.
Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or techical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.
I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication.
I appreciate your consideration of my views.
Most respectfully,
Jay Rockefeller
Anybody interested in John Poindexter’s TIA program mentioned by Rockefeller can find info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office
January 28th, 2006 at 11:56 amRove the Law Breaker and Hater of Truth Tellers;
A state agency lawyer quoted in a nationally-circulated news story as questioning Karl Rove’s eligibility to vote in Kerr County is out of a job and feeling twice burned.
Elizabeth Reyes said she was fired Tuesday as an attorney in the elections division of the Texas secretary of state’s office because she appeared in a Washington Post story Saturday about the presidential adviser.
The article, which was reprinted in papers across the country, quoted Reyes as saying Rove’s ownership of Kerr County property may not qualify him to vote there.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:58 amTJM,
There needs to be an independent investigator. Specter’s hearings will be a circus where knowbody is subpenaed and knowbody has to testify under oath. It will just be a dog and pony show.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:03 pmWe got your number karl
Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A06
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush’s nominee to be deputy attorney general.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:05 pmStick that in your ‘uncredible’ YaP Rover
January 28th, 2006 at 12:07 pmMaybe,but the process has to start somewhere. It’s unlikely that Specter will call somebody like Tice but I don’t see anybody who could appoint a special prosecutor doing so,do you?
January 28th, 2006 at 12:08 pmNope, just more cover-up, blocking and dodging.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:18 pmI BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE EXPERIENCE A MORE HEINOUS AND DIRE TYRANNY UNDER GEORGE THE 43RD THAN UNDER GEORGE THE 3RD.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:18 pmBUT UNTIL WE CHOOSE TO TAKE THE MEASURES OUR CONSTITUTION AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE PROVIDE, MORE TYRANNY IS ALL THAT WE WILL GET.
why Spudge,despair isn’t like you even though it may be called for here. Just as Alito may turn out to be Earl Warren,Specter may conduct a real hearing. Then,again…….
January 28th, 2006 at 12:25 pmTJM,
More frustration tha despair. I am not sure I have ever despaired over something.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:34 pmTJM – good questions. I am sure you saw the CRS report on how the Administration did not fulfill its legal obligation to brief the Intelligence Committees. If not, check it out; it talks very clearly about the legal requirements for keeping Intelligence committees fully and currently informed.
As for the legal requirements on the Administration to limit who in the Executive Branch gets briefed on the program, the pertinent law is the National Security Act (check out in particular Sec. 503). Those members of Congress briefed may not share the information, but there is no corresponding limitation on the Executive Branch, presumably other than the need to know.
And that really is the question. If Karl Rove were briefed, when was he briefed and what was the need to know. Moreover, if he was briefed, what is the justification for refusing to brief the members of the Intelligence Committee.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:43 pmhats off nothing. WaPo should be lambasted for not being up in arms incessantly railing against the buchcriminal regime like they did about Clinton’s BJs. Likewise, republicans; it is their country, their freedoms, their democracy at stake as well. Are they really that stupid that they think it is only democrats that will lose in the bushcriminal regime and federalist society’s destruction of the constitution? Can republicans really be that politically craven and drunk with power (of which most will garner no spoils) that the actions of the bushcriminal regime don’t scare the begeezus out of them?
The true American failure that has allowed the bushcriminal regime to trash America is not the spineless, incoherent democrats (albeit they have failed in everyway), and at this point it is not even the lapdog, republican propagandist corporate media that has facilitated the ruination of America and the destruction of its foundation principles, but the republicans that march in lockstep, with nary a whisper against the criminal regime they prop up. Republican failure to stand up and save America in its hour of greatest peril, a peril from within of solitary mendacious control of every element of the government, a failure of even the smallest of republican constituency to stand up for America some day will be legendary when historians write of this end of the ‘American Era’. It will be on the heads of the average republican that blindly stood by, covering their eyes and ears, cowering instead of standing up.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:48 pm.
Thanks,Denis. I suppose in large part there are only two reasons for not more thoroughly briefing Congress. Either arrogance (they just didn’t want to do more than what they believed the minimum requirement to be as interpreted by the administration)or it was borderline illegal and disclosure would have halted the program entirely.
January 28th, 2006 at 12:59 pmThe Rove question is one that helps establish (again) just how the administration conducts itself.
What a great article.
By asking the right questions, the truth just sort of materializes.
Articles like this are the last thing Bushco wants to see.
January 28th, 2006 at 1:21 pmrepublicans; it is their country, their freedoms, their democracy at stake as well. Are they really that stupid that they think it is only democrats that will lose in the bushcriminal regime and federalist society’s destruction of the constitution? Can republicans really be that politically craven and drunk with power
All signs point to a small Cabal as you describe. They had lost for so long they would do anything for a WIN. Yet in doing so it would appear, to me at least, that in doing so they weakened National Security by focusing on 10 year old Intelligence and Propaganda for a Lost cause. They may be in power right now, by their POLITY charts most of the power has swung to the Uber Elite. And I dont mean Rush, Coulter, nor any of those poor people. They themselves are tools blinded by greed and their enmity.
January 28th, 2006 at 1:28 pmAs Far as Rove is concerned, speculating, he knew. In Lawyer Grease Words hes an “Upstanding member of the Republican Party, the Very same one of the Respectable Jack Abramoff “
Gadzookz, think I just made myself sick by typing that =)
January 28th, 2006 at 1:30 pmThe issue is his security clearance isn’t it? Not when he might have been briefed.
Comment by TJM — January 28, 2006 @ 10:05 am
No it isn’t.
Of course he had a security clearance.
A clearance does not mean you are privy to any particular information that you are not directly responsible for or have a particular Need to Know details about.
There would be no logical reason for Rove, regardless of the level of clearance or “tickets” on his clearance, to know any details on this program.
Roves role at the White House is as a Political Strategist.
Sure he is a Deputy Chief of Staff, but he is a Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of POLICY.
It is not customary to brief POLICY ADVISORS on high level Top, Top Secret matters of National Security.
January 28th, 2006 at 1:31 pmFor Rove & Co. to try to turn this into just another partisan political skewer discredits their administration and their party.
Aye, for Bush spied on “political” allies, ignored the PDBs.
But lets not digress, For one of Bushs points for spying, or for the REASON of not SPYING on the KNOWN SAUDI cells is this;
They were Students here on Visas therefore it wasnt Illegal to SPy on these ‘Students’ or Tap their Calls. Their WOULD have been no reason once again for bush to go ‘Warrantless’
Unchecked power is NOT in the interest of the populi of Democratic republic no matter who/when the president is/was.
Also Consider the Amount of Bush signings and how MANY of those signings, that Alito help to create, would then be interpreted by the ‘Federalist’ Groupies?
January 28th, 2006 at 1:44 pmCongress basically ceases to exist.
as Duhbya talked in his sleep, Rover snuck pen and pad out from under his the covers, and his PJ’s, and took notes on more active earlier whispers in his ears…=)
January 28th, 2006 at 1:47 pmI wrote to my two Senators and asked them about this.
January 28th, 2006 at 2:05 pmEven if they don’t reply with substance, their staff will know people have questions about Rove.
Another question. Why is it that if Bush&Co. are such a big success at keeping us “safe”, and this illegal behavior of theirs is such a large part of it, then why are the Republicans still so F*CKING SCARED?!? This makes no sense to me. But then again, they have never made any sense to me. And why can Karl Rove use this oh so secret progam as a campaign tool? It’s okay to talk about if you are a Rightie, but not if you are a progressive? The Leaker should be prosecuted, but the political hack is unfettered? WTF is that? SSDD
January 28th, 2006 at 2:19 pmWorfeus,you’re wrong.
January 28th, 2006 at 2:35 pmI just posted the diary I mentioned the other day regarding the Motion to Dismiss in an Albany “terror” case based on the use of illegal and unconstitutional warrentless electronic surveillance.
Please read and recommend as this issue needs airtime:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/28/145228/004
Thank you.
Peace,
Andrew
January 28th, 2006 at 3:04 pmWorfeus,you’re wrong.
Comment by TJM — January 28, 2006 @ 2:35 pm
Ahh, another brilliant and factually detailed retort from the cranially challenged right.
So my detailed fact filled response?
No I’m not Nimrod. :|
January 28th, 2006 at 3:13 pmBut you’re welcome to demonstrate or prove how I am wrong.
Oh I’m sorry, ToeJamMan, I used a polysyllabic word, oops, there I go again.
Feel free to check your weekly reader and let me know when you have something semi-smart to say.
I know it’s hard, but put down your SOF magazine, pull up your trousers, and refill the generator outside of your lime green double-wide.
And when you can form a coherent sentence, I’ll be here.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:20 pmIn fact, consider WORFEUS at your service.
It’ll be my pleasure.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:23 pm(Right-wing unity is legendary, of course, but I wonder if they will sign up for a campaign about a program that the President won’t even tell them about.)
That was meant as a hetorical question, right?
January 28th, 2006 at 3:37 pmrhetorical
January 28th, 2006 at 3:38 pmWell,you certainly have a way with words and what I take to be unnecessary insults although it’s clear you didn’t bother to read the other 5 or 6 comments I posted here. Besides which,the discussion had basically been over for quite a while. But since you’re not content with a simple declarative sentence,and you obviously can’t stand the thought that you might actually be wrong,I’ll go over this for the third time.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:44 pmIf GWB decides that he wants to share this information with Rove,who has a sufficient level security clearance,there is nothing to prevent him from doing so. The act of allowing Rove to see what the program is about as well as how it’s done is not in anyway illegal. For example,why would GWB visit Korea to discuss what would likely include top level material and take C. Rice and Rove with him? (I throw this example in so when you toddle off to wikipedia,you can find an understandable case.)If he decides to treat Rove as needing to know that information,so be it. You may think it illogical or unnecessary,but I don’t think the administration asked you,did they?
Nice talking with you,too.
Oh,and you’re wrong.
Bush will not be impeached till he is caught getting a BJ from Karl Rove > lol. (Or giving Karl a hummer!)
LIES and Illegal Spying are not enough to impeach Bush, according to Republicans, but Clinton’s lie about sex was horrible to them!
January 28th, 2006 at 3:50 pmNo ToeJam,
You are wrong.
Either you don’t know anything about secret clearances, or the corruption that has rotted the right wing as likewise rotted your brain.
NEED TO KNOW MEANS NEED TO KNOW, NIMROD.
But next time, if you want to bypass the unecessary insults, you might do me the respect of providing some details on your 1st grade retorts, instead of coming in and just saying I’m wrong.
And oh yea, YOU’RE WRONG.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:53 pmUnless of course you’re just another SHEEPDRONE, in which case drink up your Jesus Juice, do 25 Seig Heils while Genuflexing , and goosestep your way on over to the local Masonic Lodge.
Theres bingo tonite.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:59 pmFor an example of how to appropriately respond,my poor benighted soul,please read comment #41.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:02 pmI know.
WORFEUS doesn’t play nicely with the other boys and girls.
WORFEUS IS A MEANY.
BAD WORFEUS.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:03 pm:O
January 28th, 2006 at 4:04 pmYou remain deeply and unalterably wrong but as another frequent commenter here has so tritely put it,I forgive you for your partisan hackery. Your opprobrium has no effect on me but if it amuses you to virtually play with yourself as a respite from actually doing so,please continue.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:22 pmAfter Mass tomorrow,I will light a votive candle that you might understand the fable of the Sun and the North Wind.
You may think it illogical or unnecessary,but I don’t think the administration asked you,did they?
Comment by TJM — January 28, 2006 @ 3:44 pm
Take a good long look people.
Because herein lies the failure of our country.
The SHEEPDRONES who follow this little tyrant, our little King George, have handed over their loyalty, and thought processes to the his way or the highway iron fist rule. They sound more like Brittany Spears than Americans.
They forgot that America’s Government is a government of the people by the and people for the people
You’re damn skippy he asked me.
He asked me and every other American citizen when he took that office and swore that oath. We don’t have a King there slappy. We have an executive, who executes based on the will of the people.
Not on what he feels is best for the people, but on the will of the people.
You’re damned right he asked me.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:23 pm“In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.”
Ben Franklin
January 28th, 2006 at 4:24 pmNot only did he ask me, but as I recall I said NO.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:26 pm“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Thomas Jefferson
January 28th, 2006 at 4:33 pmDeclaration of Independence, 1776
You better believe he asked me.
He asked us ALL.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:36 pmAMERICA WAKE UP
WHO DO YOU THINK
WAS HOLDING THE
LADDLE WHEN BUSH
AND HIS PEOPLE
WERE COOKING THIS
WHOLE THING UP???
And just an FYI, because it was mentioned in the article. This whole OH SO TOP SECRET SPY PROGRAM that Bush won’t talk about because of it’s sensitive nature, so sensitive that the President is refusing to consider a change in the law because doing so would “tell the enemy what we’re doing”, even though his Generals told him that the courts may not be able to support this program, and even though Bush rebuffed Congressional attempts to modify these outdated NSA laws that Bush refuses to follow, WE THE PEOPLE no longer have a president as our leader. We no longer have a Congress as our Founding Fathers designed it to be. And with Alito’s, soon to be, positioning on the Supreme Court, Bush’s announcement to his public that he is acting within his UNITARY EXECUTIVE WAR TIME POWERS, Bush is all but thumbing his nose at the presidency. His summarily excusing of Congressional craftsmenship of THE LAW, all but thumbs his nose at our Congressional leaders. What do WE THE PEOPLE HAVE LEFT THEN???
A Parlement, lead by a Unitary Executive, Protectorite & Chief of the Commenwealth of the 50 States of America.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:36 pmWE THE PEOPLE no longer have a president as our leader.
We no longer have a Congress as our Founding Fathers designed it to be
Comment by Max-1 — January 28, 2006 @ 4:36 pm
Exactly.
And while Americans sleep, the wolfs take over the chickencoop.
In Roman history, the struggle between the Senate and the Emporers was an ongoing, ever shifting power struggle. When the people were lulled to sleep by a craftier than usual Emporer, power shifted.
And we know this. We shouldn’t have to say things like America is a free nation, these things should be a given.
But today the right has been lulled to sleep by the pied piper in the White House, and we now have what resembles more of a King than a President.
Funny, Washington did not even want to be called President.
He thought it sounded to Kinglike, to Imperial.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:50 pmAre they really that stupid that they think it is only democrats that will lose in the bushcriminal regime and federalist society’s destruction of the constitution?
Comment by gak — January 28, 2006
Yea actually, it appears they are.
January 28th, 2006 at 4:57 pm“The government of a nation may be usurped by the forcible intrusion of an individual into the throne.
But to conquer its will so as to rest the right on that, the only legitimate basis, requires long acquiescence and cessation of all opposition.”
Thomas Jefferson
January 28th, 2006 at 4:59 pmBush Administration Misled Public on Iraq, Say Americans
latest news and polls
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – More adults in the United States are challenging their federal government’s decision to launch the coalition effort, according to a poll by Gallup released by CNN and USA Today. 53 per cent of respondents think the Bush administration deliberately misled the American public about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, up three points since April.
The number of Americans who believe the government did not mislead the public has fallen from 64 per cent in June 2003, to 46 per cent this month.
January 28th, 2006 at 5:11 pmPoor Bush. It’s bad enough he has to worry about the War on Terror, now he’s also got the War on Weather.
January 28th, 2006 at 5:25 pm#80 Comment by plunger
Such is the speech of the PLANTATION LANDLORD.
January 28th, 2006 at 5:50 pm[...] Think Progress [...]
January 28th, 2006 at 6:06 pmThat terrorist in New Jersey wishes to thank you for your support, as well as all the other liberals that are trying to protect the right of every terrorist in the USA to conduct their terror plans in private.
“Keep up the good work” says Alababdji Homogi
January 28th, 2006 at 8:00 pmThat terrorist in New Jersey wishes to thank you for your support, as well as all the other liberals that are trying to protect the right of every terrorist in the USA to conduct their terror plans in private.
Comment by JustaDog — January 28, 2006 @ 8:00 pm
You’re Welcome :|
January 28th, 2006 at 8:21 pmThat terrorist in New Jersey wishes to thank you for your support, as well as all the other liberals that are trying to protect the right of every terrorist in the USA to conduct their terror plans in private.
“Keep up the good work†says Alababdji Homogi
Comment by JustaDog — January 28, 2006
Boy did you miss the point! We liberals want George Bush to follow the law. We want Bush to get warrants for wiretapping. It would be so easy for him to do it. But no, he’s king, so he doesn’t have to! IF HE HAD GOTTEN A WARRANT, there would be no questions as to the legality of the wiretapping, and no chance that the terrorist would get off on a technicality.
January 28th, 2006 at 9:01 pmWow, I just responded from my partisan side, because I was pissed! Don’t assholes like JustaDog realize that it’s Bush, not the liberals who will let the terrorists walk?
January 28th, 2006 at 9:08 pmhmm, I guess I still am.
The terrorists who are arranging the next attack are not dumb. They know that the US is listening to them and they are operating with no problems. When the attack comes it will be probably be much larger than 9/11. Probably a small nuke or dirty bomb in DC. Accept the fact that it is going to happpen no matter what. Osama is winning.
January 28th, 2006 at 9:51 pmFunny the trolls don’t read anything that isn’t on the “approved list” because a thorough reading of the first half of the 20th century surrounding the rise of the totalitarian state would reveal that both political machines that eventually seized power did so through a rather large group of people who after the “coup” were systematically eliminated in purges. Stalin’s purges of the 30’s had very little to do with any vestige of the non-communists, but instead Stalin’s elimination of any political rivals from within the communist party itself, the most famous was Stalin’s pushing Trotsky out of power then exiling him eventually to having Trotsky murdered in Mexico City in 1940, such was his fear of the truth that Trotsky never quit speaking, the other relevant example of a political dictator eliminating any possible rival by turning on old allies is Hitlers ruthless elimination of the SA in 1934 after he had seized total power. if the minions that carry the propaganda for the right think that Rove ET AL won’t turn on them any faster than has happened in the past well they drank too much kool-aid, all they need to do is look at the adhominum political attacks that have occurred and the total amnesia claimed by those in power about former high ranking operatives or supporters when said operatives or supporters fall from grace in the public, ie; Ken Lay or Jack Abrarmoff.
January 28th, 2006 at 11:07 pmKarl Rove reminds me of another fascist named Joseph Goebbels, who was Propaganda Minister in Nazi Germany under Hitler! He was vey clever like Rove and helped to make Adolf into the Fuhrer! In the end he poisoned his entire family and himself!
January 28th, 2006 at 11:26 pmYes in the very end they do seem to turn on themselves, and that is a shame, but not as big a shame as ALL the damage they do to others before their bitter end comes.
January 29th, 2006 at 12:20 amBush or Rove or Cheney wouldnt Know a Terrorist unless they Shook his hand and had an adviser tell them who they were.
Comment by Wolfoputz
Bush defines a rude French waiter as a terrorist.
January 29th, 2006 at 3:15 amThanks,Denis. I suppose in large part there are only two reasons for not more thoroughly briefing Congress.
TJM
There is the third and actual reason. They are illegally spying on their domestic political enemies. That’s the reason, the only reason. It’s not like it’s a new idea for Republicans. How old are you, anyway?
January 29th, 2006 at 3:18 am“…when the President does it, then that means it is not illegal.”
January 29th, 2006 at 4:26 amR. M. Nixon ~ 1977
#90, clif,
January 29th, 2006 at 11:32 amGood post. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Watching the leaders today pretend they don’t know the crooks who were once their friends and associates should chill the bones of the supporters of the Bush crime family and this corrupt administration.
#1, Rove knows everything? You betcha, my take on it is that it was Rove’s idea in the first place and that it goes far beyond simply attempting to track Al Queda calls in the US.
January 29th, 2006 at 5:20 pmA letter of concern to Congress and the American people.
TO: WE THE PEOPLE
Both you and I are fully aware that what we are witnessing before our country, is possibly the largest power grab that American history will attest to. The volume of books are already into their second printing, and the future of Rove, Rumsfeld, and all of the like, will be dependent on their soon to be Doubleday@ contracts. History will be replete with the testimony of this power grab from the predictions of the perdition in the new American Democracy.
So lets examine their works. The volumes that which they will be speaking of. This power grab of the millennia.
The Art of Deception: A book that can be attributed to being the bible of the RNC.
I have an idea. Possibly so Machiavellian in nature, that the RNC won’t even see it coming, and they might possibly walk away thanking the us.
In the Art of Deception, one learns the power attributed to being capable of manipulating one’s opponents into doing your bidding. Evil indeed, yet almost necessarily so. A taste of their own medicine.
As a whole, the DNC may be fractured and the American public is being sold a bill of goods from the RNC; that Humpty Dumpty can never be but back together again. More fairy tales from the spin masters. So if Humpty Dumpty is broken, then Humpty Dumpty needs the Kings horses and men to do some healing.
TO: CONGRESS
The president all but has thumbed his nose at Congress as a whole. The Legislative Branch. He has stated, equivocally, that he turned down an invitation by Congress to allow them to assist him in crafting the necessary laws and amendments to the FISA laws back in 2002, and in 2003. And has reinforced his unyielding position to Congress’ Constitutionally mandated job description to be the sole craftsmanship of law for the land.
Rise up Congress. You’re president dismissed you. His words smack of his arrogance. Take back your jobs and legislate.
RNC, DNC, Green Party and Independent. One and all, your president’s nebulous words spoken to the US populace have left more scratching their heads than following in suit. There is something a foot and America’s chagrin needs to be comforted, not ignored and lulled into submission.
Stand up Congress, and take your jobs back. It was our Founders express mandate that there be three EQUAL branches. One not to be more than another.
Executive, Legislative, Judiciary. Three equal branches, that if left unchecked will lead to the corruptive downward spiral of the Democracy that our Founding Fathers created for us.
The president dismissed the necessity to go to the FISA court because of the antiquation of the laws, as he would have you to believe. But that begs the bigger question. Why not let Congress assist the president in the craftsmanship of new FISA laws that ARE inclusive of the 21st century technologies? The absurdity of the president’s response all but begs for a subpoena from the DOJ as his recusal toward any necessity of explanation to his concept and legality rests only in National Security.
Be heard Congress. The silence beset upon the Democratic party that which is parlayed in the media, is infesting the integrity of Democracy its self. RNC, DNC, Green Party and Independent alike. Your president has made clear, that he will resist any attempt at including Congress in the craftsmanship of necessary law to make what he is doing, legal in the eyes of the court.
Something is a foot. And it is trampling upon Congress’ Constitutional job description. It is riping at the integrity of American values. And Congress needs to address the elephant in the room. With pole numbers bottoming out for both the RNC and the DNC members of Congress and a midterm elections at the door step, how can Congress sit there and take this? The lack of voter confidence, and the summarily dismissal by the president, all but shows that Congress needs to rise up and take their jobs back.
Show the voters what integrity looks like. Three equal branches that follow Constitutional law and implore a sense of checks and balances.
Rise up. Stand up. Be heard.
Congress is needed as mandated by WE THE PEOPLE through our Bill of Rights.
Comment by Max-1
January 30th, 2006 at 2:14 amAs for Rove, he retains his security clearance, and he is not a target of any investigation. Period. Perhaps you should bark up another tree.
Comment by Blue State Red #14
Fool’s State inb’Red,
Forgive us if we wait for the Fitzgerald press conference on that one…
As for Rove’s “security clearance”, in Bushiva’s criminal junta you know what they say about those don’t you?
January 30th, 2006 at 12:56 pmRove is an idiot! Same with Bush for letting Rove dictate his presidency like that. Anyone who let’s a low life run their life is an idiot my friends, and that’s exactly what these guys are. Idiots!!!
June 6th, 2006 at 12:26 pmDistance Learning Teachers Having Sex With Students Very Hot School Girls
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 18th, 2008 at 4:55 pmFed. Bankruptcy Laws
Interesting – because that is the same thing I found out last Thursday.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:55 pmYoung Girls Young Girl Models Young Puffy Nipple
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
April 5th, 2008 at 12:50 amordering checks
I found your post comments while searching Google. Very relevant especially as this is not an issue which a lot of peaople are conversant with.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:06 amFederal Housing Administration 1934
I enjoyed reading your blog. What a great thing it is to be able to share information like this on the Internet.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:42 amretaining a lawyer
The point of this post is not to deter people from being lawyers or scare the daylights out of them. Rather, it aims to prepare aspiring lawyers for what lies ahead of them in the real world of the law. The more prepared you are, the better the oppor…
April 11th, 2008 at 1:17 am