Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Wait -- Erase, Erase, Erase...”

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February 15, 2006

Wait -- Erase, Erase, Erase...

Hatched by Dafydd

This story, while brand new in the press, is already ancient (dare I say antique?) in the blogosphere: evidently, the Democrats (and RINOs) have just now discovered that their whole attack on the NSA al-Qaeda intercept program isn't going very well for them... and it appears they're about to drop the punitive probe without apology or even a backward glance.

Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.

The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored motion to start an inquiry into the recently revealed program in which the National Security Agency eavesdrops on an undisclosed number of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents without obtaining warrants from a secret court. Two committee Democrats said the panel -- made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats -- was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it.

(Hat tip to Captain Ed.)

There is not yet evidence from the MSM that the Democrats are ready to stop gnawing on this bone; no Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has publicly come out and said he will vote against the inquiry. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

(Of course, we now learn from the media that, by making us wait until tomorrow, the Democrats are engaging in a cover-up -- just as the MSM decreed that making the White House press gang wait eighteen hours to find out "Dead-Eye" Dick shot a lawyer means Cheney was trying to "cover up" the accident.)

I really just wanted to highlight the "two-fer" above: both warrantless and domestic surveillance in the same sentence above -- in two successive paragraphs!

Somebody's aiming for an Olympic record.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, February 15, 2006, at the time of 7:55 PM

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» Follow-Up to Wait -- Erase, Erase, Erase... from Big Lizards
Following up on an earlier Big Lizards post, it appears as though we were correct: a deal is in the works to abort the politically stupid fight against the NSA al-Qaeda-communications intercept program. According to CBS: Senate Intelligence Chairman Pa... [Read More]

Tracked on February 16, 2006 6:10 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: John Sobieski

Talking about being late - the blogworld has been talking about the Danish cartoons since the day they were published in September! And the MSM never picked up on it at all, or if they did, declined to even print an article about it. I wonder if the MSM was this bad during WWII? Vietnam War? I don't think they were in WWII but they certainly became antagonistic by the time Vietnam rolled around.

The above hissed in response by: John Sobieski at February 15, 2006 10:24 PM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

Unbelievable. Do you think we'll only hear high-minded comments about Article II Constitutional stuff now?

Will Pelosi, Reed and all the whining Dem's henceforth just acknowledge up front in every speech that the NSA program is a good one and necessary for the country? "We just need to sort out the details of who has authority to do what for the future", sort of stuff. Bloviate, bloviate, bloviate.

And, where is the NYT in all of this? Can they possibly just let this thing go and not look completely stupid?

The above hissed in response by: MTF at February 16, 2006 6:36 AM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

A Clinton appointed judge has ordered the administration to release documents related to the program.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11389667/

Court of Appeals, here we come.

I was under the obviously incorrect impression that a litigant had to be able to demonstrate standing before filing a case in federal court, like showing they've somehow been injured in some way. When there is publicity available to the judge however exceptions can be granted. A lesson not to be forgotten.

The above hissed in response by: MTF at February 16, 2006 1:13 PM

The following hissed in response by: shortz

"I was under the obviously incorrect impression that a litigant had to be able to demonstrate standing before filing a case in federal court, like showing they've somehow been injured in some way."

This litigant has standing. They filed a FOIA request and are entitled to expedited processing.

The above hissed in response by: shortz at February 17, 2006 2:43 PM