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Hume Lies: “No Politician Briefed” On Warrantless Wiretapping “Claims The Briefings Were Insufficient”»

Today on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume angrily asserted that no one briefed on the President’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program has said the briefings were inadequate. Watch it:

Transcript:

That is absurd. No politician among those who have been thoroughly briefed on this claims the briefings were insufficient and vague…Rockefeller does not claim that. Rockefeller has said many things about this program, but he’s — but he has never said that he wasn’t fully briefed that I know of.

That’s false. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, did complain the briefings were inadequate. From Rockefeller’s letter to Dick Cheney after the briefing:

Clearly, the activities we discussed raised profound oversight issues…I feel unable to evaluate, much less endorse, these activities…without more information…I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing…

Also, Sen. Bob Graham – the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee – said his briefing was inadequate. From the Miami Herald:

…Graham recalled being summoned to a classified briefing by Vice President Dick Cheney in late 2001 or early 2002. He was informed about a presidential directive that let the National Security Agency eavesdrop on overseas calls that moved through U.S. communications lines — not people speaking on the phone inside the United States.

… [D]uring his chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee in 2001 and 2002, [Graham] said, “I was not notified that they were going to abandon the FISA process and utilize warrantless intercepts of conversations.”

We’ll be waiting patiently for Hume’s correction.




Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date

74 Responses to “Hume Lies: “No Politician Briefed” On Warrantless Wiretapping “Claims The Briefings Were Insufficient””

  1. bigboy Says:

    Liar!


  2. konopelli Says:

    C’mon Brit. Do the right thing. Join your son, you lying, fascist shitwhistle…


  3. MarkC Says:

    Brit Hume is the Grande Madame of the media whores.


  4. Clyde the Ripper Says:

    Hume didn’t lie. Neither Rockefeller nor Graham used the words “Inadequate” and “vague.” If you are going to play mealy mouth it is important that you learn the rules of the game.


  5. Christopher Says:

    [Comment deleted by admin.]


  6. Jay Randal Says:

    The Democrat Senators were not told about the full ramifications of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, but they should have been more suspicious of it, because Bush maybe spying on the entire House and Senate membership now, which means they are being blackmailed to allow Bush to continue it?!


  7. mlr Says:

    I have nothing good to say about Brit Hume. But the comments about his dead son are really awful. Hume is terrible in his own right, there is no need to bring the tragedy of his son’s death into the discussion.


  8. Sony Guy Says:

    I remember Sandy Hume when he began reporting on Fox News. He seemed like a nice kid. Quiet, almost retiring and shy. It does seem Brit has become more bitter, antagonistic and a full blown Bush shill since his personal tragedy. He has lost any objectivity that he had on ABC News.


  9. afterthought Says:

    So is it just Fox that lets their employees lie all the time,
    or is it all the media? Can we trust Mother Jones?
    Clearly not the NY “Judy Miller” Times.
    Oh well, I will miss living in a democracy here
    in the USA. I think it was pretty cool before the
    fascists took over.


  10. beep52 Says:

    re Mir: I have nothing good to say about Brit Hume. But the comments about his dead son are really awful.

    Agreed. Let us not become what we despise.


  11. Dumb Democrats Says:

    He is not lying.
    The democrats agreed with and supported the program. They were led by Harman and Rockefeller.

    This is why they don’t support Feingold and this is why you should vote Independent.


  12. Bush Bites Says:

    That guy’s just pathological. He really shouldn’t even be considered an anchorman. He’s just an O’Reilly with a hairlip.


  13. Jay Randal Says:

    Mir > mentioning Hume’s son commiting suicide is fair game if he is PAID to defend the Bush Regime?! Suicides are very tragic, but I have never heard Hume mention it much? Best to counter Hume with facts and not a family tragedy!


  14. Dumb Democrats Says:

    Dumb Democrat: “I’m going on Fox.”

    Normal Person: Fox? Don’t they advocate killing judges and call torture vicitms crybabies?

    Dumb Democrat: “I’m going on Fox.”


  15. ElectricBassPlayer Says:

    Ein Volk.
    Ein Reich.
    Ein Fuhrer.
    Ein News Channel!


  16. KerryinAlaska Says:

    You will keep waiting forever. Another goddamned liar. Another person full of sedition against the government that was supposed to be for the people, by the people and of the people. Now it’s just the government of the liars, the cheats, the criminals.
    What a bunch of idiots.


  17. katy Says:

    “…that I know of.” …always an out…play dumb…
    still a lie…

    and, really, very disappointing that an unrelated personal trajedy had to be brought up at all…that’s stooping - very unbecoming…


  18. T2005 Says:

    The White House Propaganda organ is in full swing this Sunday morning.


  19. the truth fairy Says:

    brit hume is another waste of my time hack making a living from stupid comments with no basis in fact


  20. Marie Says:

    Blatant lie! See how he equivocated with “not that I know of” — he will use the “convenient memory” excuse when and if he is ever called upon to explain his lies. All the crooks and liars are expert at parsing words in such ways as they attempt to leave the back door ajar for their escape.


  21. Marie Says:

    Katy, I am going to try to remember to read all the posts before I reply.


  22. Scott Says:

    Verbiage is always fluid in meaning, often it is used as herring to move from the issue to allow a claim to be said that is not either actually true or false, a form of what is the definition of “is’. I believe Fox and all of their no spin zone is accurate because they say exactly what the President and RNC want them to say, no independant reporting. I believe you can confront, critize, challenge Hume and the other mouthpieces used on Fox for spouting the “company line”, but I do not accept bringing in personal life or tragedies as his son, that is out of bounds. Do not sink to the level used by the right wingers, RNC, and the game leader Rove by using personal tragedy. However “insufficient and vague” can be discriptive words regarding stated concerns or doubts such as raising “profound oversight issues…unable to evaluate, much less endorse, these activities…without more information…I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns “


  23. katy Says:

    marie, you crack me up!


  24. katy Says:

    Marie! take a look - i must say, i am pleasantly surprised:
    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/03/19.html#a7575
    Durbin: Backs up Feingold on Censure


  25. AJ Says:

    I think he dodged the point by invoking a tautology — put these two terms together: thoroughly briefed, and insufficient and vague. Either that, or he was inserting a subliminal, loaded adverb to act as evidence where there was no evidence.


  26. capriccio Says:

    AJ (#25) nails it, and don’t anyone think Hume stumled into this tautology accidently. This is his MO, thus no apologies will be forthcoming. The man’s a Party tool.


  27. Jim Nantz, Sports Personality, Chickenhawk Says:

    You people are just as guilty of rewriting history as the neocons. The Dems supported the data mining. Shame on you.


  28. Pro-Democracy Says:

    Judd Lies: Hume directly mentioned Rockefeller’s letter, Judd chose to clip the quote.


  29. Marie Says:

    Yes, Katy,
    I am pleasantly surprised. I am sure he and others have been inundated with Emails from constituents expressing their fury at the non-support of Feingold. Durbin and Obama are ARE not up for reelection in 2006, so why not support Feingold?
    And for those who ARE up for reelection in 2006 — why not support Feingold?
    The Congress must begin to take note of the people’s desire to rid the nation of the Bush cabal.


  30. theroachman Says:

    28 Please read what ALL of what was written before you speak.

    As for Hume how long will these lies continue? It’s almost every day there is some sort of blatant distortion or an outright lie on faux. Will faux need to commit some sort of libel or will they need to be sued like tabloids are, before this madness stops?


  31. Nirvision Says:

    “That is absurd. No politician among those who have been thoroughly briefed on this claims the briefings were insufficient and vague…Rockefeller does not claim that. Rockefeller has said many things about this program, but he’s — but he has never said that he wasn’t fully briefed that I know of.”

    Seems like Judd didn’t clip any quote. The footage on Hume shows Hume not only downplaying the seriousness of the insufficient briefings but also lied about what Rockefeller said about the briefings.


  32. wisedup Says:

    If bush killed a child on the white house lawn, brit boy would say…’that kid was a terrrus!’…..what a sick man he is.


  33. Pro-Democracy Says:

    Hume directly addressed the Rockefeller letter a minute or two before the quote Judd posted. Judd’s presentation is clearly disingenuous.


  34. hadenough Says:

    Harman said. “Like many Americans, I am deeply concerned by reports that this program in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was briefed.”
    http://mediamatters.org/items/200512220014


  35. katy Says:

    pro-de-democracy aka wallace aka immature trouble maker loser…


  36. theroachman Says:

    33. Ah no. All is provided. Did you figure out how to view the rest of the Hume segment? Yes you did. The quote was clipped because that is the focus of the whole Hume segment. You are arguing about styles of debate rather than debating what has been presented for debate. This adds nothing.


  37. theroachman Says:

    Oh it’s Gary sorry the dude changes his moniker so much it’s hard to tell some times who he really is.


  38. mr.ed Says:

    Wasn’t this guy a “real” reporter at one time? What turned him and his Faux friends toward the dark side? Can it be the money? P*ssy? Blackmail? MSG? What?


  39. I-RIGHT-I Says:

    Let’s just hope the Donks and the Filthy Left can hold on to this issue all the way to elections. Nothing like enabling the enemy to give the Republicans a little extra to beat them up with. It’s no fun being on top without someone on the bottom.


  40. BUSHBANKRUPTSUSA Says:

    U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
    The Outstanding Public Debt as of 19 Mar 2006 at 12:30:30 PM MST is:

    BUSHDEBT
    The estimated population of the United States is 298,816,529
    so each citizen’s share of this debt is $27,703.07.

    The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
    $2.03 billion per day since September 30, 2005!

    Curious as to where all that money went?

    BUSHCURRENCY


  41. kindness Says:

    Irony - now it’s the goosestepping bushies arguing what the meaning of “is” is.

    How many times do you have to read statements from both the 8 democrats & republicans who were briefed, all said they weren’t ever told about the full extent of the data mining program befor you see it’s bushco who’se spinning shit now?

    I also notice that bushies are no longer trying to debate the merits of the program anymore, but are now parsing the meaning of the words “fully briefed” to try to validate their unconstitutional & unpopular illegal program.

    Bill Clinton is smiling very wide now, knowing that lying about consentual sex, won’t hold a candle historically to an evil administration trying to userp and undermine the very bedrock of our rights & freedoms.



  42. mighty aphrodite Says:

    You forgot to mention in your “lie-o-meter” report the ignorance displayed by that NPR hack, Juan Williams. His “half-facts” constitute “half-truths”. You should perhaps make the record more full and in context and note the observations of Williams - it was his lunacy that Hume was responding to .

    I was struck by Senator Dick Durbin’s “non-answer” to Chris Wallace. Wallace asked if the leaders of the Congress - Dem leadership included - were so concerned about the NSA surveillance program, why didn’t the Minority Leader, Tom Daschle say or do something??? He was also curiously non-commital when presented with the program-positive conclusion of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

    *****Tip for Dems***** - THIS IS A LOSING ISSUE WITH THE AMERICAN PUBLIC….but when has that ever……


  43. arizonawoman Says:

    What’s the going rate in the boiler room? Two cents a word, or is it up to a nickel? You (may have) just made $6.20, MA… Of course, I gave you credit for individual words, even when you used hyphens, and also for the articles.
    Oh, and I’ll bet you get a quarter bonus for every reply, so you should thank me.
    It’s a hard lonely life working for crooks and losers, isn’t it? Poor dear..


  44. Ellington Says:

    Brit Hume is a liar.

    Some highlights:

    Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who was part of the Intelligence Committee’s leadership after the 9/11 attacks, recalled a briefing about changes in international electronic surveillance, but does not remember being told of a program snooping on individuals in the United States.

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., received several briefings and raised concerns, including in a classified letter, her spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said.

    Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said he, too, was briefed by the White House between 2002 and 2004 but was not told key details about the scope of the program.

    Daschle’s successor, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he received a single briefing earlier this year and that important details were withheld. “We need to investigate this program and the president’s legal authority to carry it out,” Reid said.

    “I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities,” West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003. “As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney.”

    Again, Brit Hume is a LIAR.


  45. cats are flyfishn Says:

    Briefing Congress members doesn’t make spying without warrants legal. Doesn’t this fool get it?

    #47 - I agree it must be horrible for these fools to try to defend a collapsing reality.


  46. katy Says:

    well, i’m curious…what did juan williams say that prompted hume’s response?

    mediamatters often takes williams to task - it doesn’t seem he is a “lefty” hack, even if on NPR…
    can’t say i listen enough to know…


  47. katy Says:

    opps, meant to link that mediamatters thing…


  48. katy Says:

    oops …duh …need fresh air…


  49. katy Says:

    whoa … i found a longer clip at crooksandliars …williams got it right… and kristol was backing feingold’s motives also - too much for hume to handle!


  50. BushHoover Says:

    BushHoover


  51. Ryan Neat Says:

    Mighty Moron claims that the american people are against ‘dems’ on this issue, but it is Mighty Moron that show that reichwingers are the ‘dim bulbs’.

    By a 55-42 majority, Americans believe the government should get court orders before monitoring the phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists. Even red state voters want the administration to obtain warrants.

    Hey Mighty Moron, that ‘claim’ of yours is almost as retarded as your ‘yacht tax’ fiasco of several months back, or the ‘Frist style’ remote diagnosis you gave of the situation in Iraq. You’re a FOOL - hehe, how sad for you - and your fellow lost boys.


  52. mighty aphrodite Says:

    “What’s the going rate in the boiler room?” - Comment by AZwomyn

    ****The rate has been GREAT - I make soooo much $$$$$ on this blog that my kids college fund is BULGING!!!!!! (Unlike progs, I’m not expecting you to pay the tuition for my four little Repubs.)

    Believe it or not, the vast right wing conspiracy (VRC)could care less if you respond or not - those “country club” types don’t think progs are teachable - but I retorted, “Most of the educational snobs are on the LEFT, who else likes to tout their genteel poverty on one hand and brag about their “privelged” upbringing on the other??” Who claims to love “the downtrodden” and proceed to kick “rednecks”?


  53. Marie Says:

    Do you ever notice that the news anchors always ask a Democrat to defend his fellow Democrat, explain his words, etc. but they don’t ask a Republican to defend another Republican or explain his words — is it because they are all singing from the same hymnal? They get their talking points every morning, and they say the same thing like little robots.


  54. Marie Says:

    Not all things must be popular to be rightas Ryan Neat says. At one time slavery was the popular opinion, as was voting rights were for men only.
    That’s why we have a Constitution - so we don’t have mob rule in the streets, nor in Congress. Have fair and just laws, and enforce them — something the mob in the White House is ignoring, as they make their own rules.

    Also, when the polls show that half the people are not on board with the illegality of warrantless spying, you have to look at how the question was phrased. When you ask them if they would mind someone tapping their phone, or spying on them without a justified warrant, the answer is quite different.

    Bush&Co say “when al qaeda calls…” but it has been proven that they have spied on ordinary citizens.


  55. Ryan Neat Says:

    “****The rate has been GREAT - I make soooo much $$$$$ on this blog that my kids college fund is BULGING!!!!!! (Unlike progs, I’m not expecting you to pay the tuition for my four little Repubs.) MightyMoronMalePoser”

    Speaking of that, how does a full time attorney, with a husband and 4 children find so much time to remote diagnose ala Frist Iraq, while professing expertise on politics, culture, religion, economics and law?

    You’re either the most neglectful mother on earth, or the biggest republican liar around. It’s easy to guess which one you are.

    And how could a ‘retard’ like you or your reichwing employers hope to ‘teach’? Teaching requires knowledge, skills and expertise - traits you remain devoid of. What you actually mean is that progs are too smart to fall for the propaganda, lies, and incongruous excuses that reichwingers make up to justify their continuous failures. Your seeming belief of the ‘lies’, means you’re either the dumbest, or most immoral idiot around.

    In otherwords, no matter how you try to justify your propaganda, you’re a disgusting hypocrite, a fool, and a moron - something every progressive on here sees, but you are impossibly stupid and incapable of recognizing.


  56. Ryan Neat Says:

    Marie,

    It’s because most ‘journalists’ are really just propagandists at this point for the Fascist Nazis that our anti-semitic (arabs are semites) Mighty Moron and Mizz Wrong belong to.


  57. mighty aphrodite Says:

    Dear Marie - there is a simple answer to your question about journalists questioning techniques:

    “Do you ever notice that the news anchors always ask a Democrat to defend his fellow Democrat, explain his words, etc. but they don’t ask a Republican to defend another Republican or explain his words…”

    *****Journalists have noted with a degree of certainty that most Dem politicians vary their “schpeel” depending on the audience. Best known recent examples - AL GORE, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. This is not to say Repubs never do the same. (For instance, when the President went to Denver and spoke at the Western Cattlemen’s Association” his discussion was different than his speech at AmVet.)


  58. WaltTheMan Says:

    ma, go to bed while you can still find one. Are you on the second or third liter of Green Chartreuse of the evening?


  59. The Great Society :: Kristol Defended Feingold’s Censure Move :: March :: 2006 Says:

    […] intercepts of conversations.’’ FOX News - we report, you find the facts on your ownâ„¢. Permalink | ‘); | ‘); The Great Society © 2005-2006 TGS was created using the Firefox web browser andmay not be viewed as cleanly in others. Recent Posts Implementation of Haloscan Comments “Don’t Make Trouble” is Bad Advice for Democrats NYT: Secret U.S. Base Used for Torture in Iraq NBC: 21 Airports Failed to Detect Bomb Materials Drunk Republicans LOVE Pornstars CT-Sen: Lieberman Sides with Hospitals over Rape Victims Plurality of Americans Support Feingold Resolution Tiki Barber on Torture Bush to Name “Dirty” Governor to Replace Norton Republicans Vote Against Funding for Port Security, Disaster Preparedness Monthly Archives […]



  60. Ryan Neat Says:

    “*****Journalists have noted with a degree of certainty that most Dem politicians vary their “schpeel” depending on the audience. Mighty Moron and Obvious Liar”

    Ironic someone who tries to claim to be ‘jewish’ would criticize others for crafting their “shpiel”, without even being able to spell the word.

    Now we mighty Mighty moron is illiterate and moronic in 2 languages!

    Bahaha, thanks for the laugh loser.

    And when you talk about different speeches, you should cite the ones that republicans give to religious and abortion whackos, versus what they say on talk shows. Now THOSE differences are almost as funny as you trying to spell yiddish!

    So not only does the irish hindu fella know more about christianity and judaism than you do, he also apparently knows more about jewish culture than someone who ‘claims’ to be jewish! Wow, what a ‘moron’.

    And just so you know, a ’shpiel’ is something given as an ‘instructive’ talk from someone with expertise, and that would be different from the ’shtick’ that you and republicans do. Ask your momma what that words mean, and hope she’s more literate than you are!

    Bahahaha


  61. Fred Freesqueeze Says:

    Where does he get this stuff?
    Idiot Anchorman
    I know some say he’s a liar, but I say just a straight up moron.


  62. big papa Says:

    Britt Hume is a typical Fox TRAITOR!

    …these are the worst criminals, the Fox propagandist network Bushites…

    All of them should be hunted down with the Patriot Act and tried for TREASON!


  63. big papa Says:

    In otherwords, no matter how you try to justify your propaganda, you’re a disgusting hypocrite, a fool, and a moron - something every progressive on here sees, but you are impossibly stupid and incapable of recognizing.

    Comment by Ryan Neat #58

    Ryan,

    You’re far too indulgent, tolerant of, and responsive to an obvious liar, and perpetrator of fraudulent discourse…

    Puny Hermaphrodite has no children (that she’it could have borne) because she’it has no ovaries…

    …she merely cultivates the cultures that plop from her arse, tending to them like little al cracker inbreds…

    ..they’re not human, they’re excretions of the foulest, and most pitiful nature…

    Puny Hermaphrodite is confused and delusional…

    …being barren does that to them…


  64. Solitaire Says:

    In-your-face-lies have been the hallmark of this administration. Where the leader leads, the sheep follow. Hume is a sheep. He is simply following the example of the president. If the truth doesn’t suit, lie.
    I can’t wait to see the way they spin the perp walks.
    “Cheney seems to be taking a little stroll down toward the patty wagon, with a group of DC’s finest hanging on every word.”
    “Rumsfeld writes from his vacation in Federal Prison that the rumors of his conviction are a Democrat ruse to discredit him”.
    “Rice has labeled the women in her cellblock ‘lovely ladies of the Republican majority’.”


  65. mighty aphrodite Says:

    #62 - “ma, go to bed while you can still find one. Are you on the second or third liter of Green Chartreuse of the evening?” - Comment by Walt
    ****Dear Walt - Green Chartreuse??? Sounds like an UGLY handbag to me!!!!



  66. mighty aphrodite Says:

    I avoid French liquers like the PLAGUE. My drink preferences for your Summer/Winter Solstice Shopping List):

    Scotch - Glenfiddich
    Beer - Domestic: Miller, Imported: Guinness
    Wine - California (mid-coast) Pinot Grigio or a robust Merlot
    Dessert - Amaretto

    Nope, not a French product on the list


  67. lpt Says:

    Everything’ Fox News’ is due to implode ‘yesterday.’


  68. WaltTheMan Says:

    #72 - Ma,
    Except for the Millers, they almost all use ingredients from France. Some cheap (Not inexpensive on this side of the pond) Amarettos use spices fron Italy.


  69. TimeForAChange Says:

    Is anyone surprised that Brit Hume would lie about something the administration is accused of doing. He is nothing but a lap dog for this administration and has been drinking the kool aid since Reagan was President. He and all of the others at Fox News and on Fox shouldn’t have the nerve to call themselves journalist.

    They sit around crying to their mamas about how the media is biased against Republicans yet they aren’t fair and balanced as advertised. Any fool who thinks Fox is fair, I got some ocean front property in Nebraska I want to sell them.


  70. I-RIGHT-I Says:

    He and all of the others at Fox News and on Fox shouldn’t have the nerve to call themselves journalist.

    They sit around crying to their mamas about how the media is biased against Republicans yet they aren’t fair and balanced as advertised. Any fool who thinks Fox is fair, I got some ocean front property in Nebraska I want to sell them.

    Comment by TimeForAChange

    Translation: “I’d “Rather” watch CBS.”


  71. Christopher Says:

    A ROBUST Merlot? Yow. Stick to Miller.
    Lite, no doubt.



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