Sen. Joe Biden: “When I got back from Iraq a little while ago, I went down to see the president, and I sat with the president, and he kept talking about terrorists. And I said, ‘Mr. President, if every single al-Qaeda personality, every single al-Qaeda operative or anyone like him tomorrow were blown away, you still have a war, Mr. President. This is well beyond terrorists.’ There’s an insurgency, Tim, a gigantic insurgency that has nothing to do with terrorists.“
Back in business.
ThinkProgress was experiencing technical difficulties for a couple of hours but we’ve appeared to resolve them now. Also, some users have been having trouble with legitimate comments being flagged as spam. If that has happened to you please contact us. We may be able to resolve the problem.
Iraq chaos:
“At least 40 people were killed and 95 wounded in three car bombs that exploded almost simultaneously in two markets in the Shi’ite Sadr district of Baghdad on Sunday,” Reuters reports. Also, “Eight bodies were found with their hands tied and gun shot wounds to the head in Rustamiya, a suburb in eastern Baghdad.” (Via Atrios)
VIDEO: Frist on Feingold: ‘I Was Hoping Deep Inside That Iran Was Not Listening’
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) responded this morning to Sen. Russ Feingold’s call to censure President Bush over his warrantless spying program. Frist condemned the censure for “the signal that it sends that there is in any way a lack of support” for President Bush, and said he was “hoping deep inside that the leadership in Iran…[was] not listening.” Watch it:
Full transcript below:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Senator Feingold there. He wants Democrats and Republicans to come together on the censure resolution he’ll introduce tomorrow. I can’t imagine you’re going to support that.
FRIST: George, what was interesting in listening to my good friend, Russ, is that he mentioned protecting the American people only one time, and although you went to politics a little bit later, I think it’s a crazy political move and I think it in part is a political move because here we are, the Republican Party, the leadership in the Congress, supporting the President of the United States as Commander in Chief, who is out there fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and the people who have sworn, have sworn to destroy Western civilization and all the families listening to us. And they’re out now attacking, at least today, through this proposed censure vote, out attacking our Commander in Chief. Doesn’t make sense.
VIDEO: Feingold Will Introduce Resolution To Censure President Bush
Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) announced that he will introduce a resolution tomorrow to censure President Bush for authorizing an illegal warrantless domestic surveillance program. Feingold said President Bush’s actions were “right in the strike zone of the concept of high crimes and misdemeanors.” Watch it:
UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attacks Feingold over censure proposal: “I was hoping deep inside that the leadership in Iran”¦[was] not listening.”
UPDATE II: Feingold has issued a fact sheet on his censure resolution.
Full transcript:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Tomorrow in the Senate you’ll introduce a resolution to censure George W. Bush. Let me show it to our viewers. It says, “Resolved: that the United States Senate does hereby censure George W. Bush, President of the United States, and does condemn his unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans.” That is a big step. Why are you taking it now?
FEINGOLD: It’s an unusual step. It’s a big step, but what the President did by consciously and intentionally violating the constitutional laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping has to be answered. There can be debate about whether the law should be changed. There can be debate about how best to fight terrorism. We all believe that there should be wiretapping in appropriate cases. But the idea that the President can just make up a law in violation of his oath of office has to be answered.
Journalists could be prosecuted
for reporting on Bush’s domestic spying program. If a bill authored by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) were to pass, reporters who dare to write about the NSA surveillance program could face criminal penalties.
