Posted on 01/13/2006 8:12:58 AM PST by laxin4him
President Bush may have broken the law when he authorized the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance on U.S.-based terrorists, ex-president Bill Clinton said Thursday.
Asked if he thought Bush had gone too far by circumventing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap terrorists, Clinton told ABC's "Nightline": "As a legal proposition, I don't know."
He said it would have been better if his successor had followed established legal guidelines, explaining: "It seems to me that unless there's a reason not to, we ought to use that surveillance court."
Clinton said that when he was president, he always tried to work within the constraints of the law.
"My attitude was that once the Congress had spoken on it and given us tools that we needed, we used it, we used the law. It wasn't anything I ever had any question to even think about because I felt that the court and the setup was more than enough to do what we needed to do," he told "Nightline." Clinton predicted that ultimately the Supreme Court would have to decide whether Bush acted illegally.
The former president wasn't asked about projects Echelon and Carnivore, two programs that monitored the electronic communications of millions of Americans during his administration without authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Priceless
The expert liar pot, calling the kettle black.
What will it take for him to JUST GO AWAY!!????
If it were not for the media protecting him, he would have been making his comments through a telephone in a visiting room in federal prison.
....having broken so many laws himself, he's now an expert on lawlessness.
Interesting words from a man who's justice department was found by the FISA court to have had a habbit of overtly misleading the FISA court to obtain warrants.
This from a man who used his powers as president to spy on his political opponents? Please.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Best joke I've heard all day.
Is it the people or is it the media that thinks he is God?
...My Gawd, I'm going to be wiping the coffee gulp I had in my mouth off my monitor's screen for the next four hours!
As I understand Aldrich Ames's house was searched without a warrant, and this would have been about 1993.
"Clinton said that when he was president, he always tried to work within the constraints of the law."
Is this the same Bill Clinton who can no longer practice law because of an Obstruction of Justice charge or something or other, I'm not clear on that. Was that within the constraints of the "law" or does it depend on what the word "law" means. I'm just really confused.
Disbarred lawyer popping off...
Bwaaaaaaa!!!!! That's hysterical. Did he say this with a straight face?
A law unto himself, that is.
If Clinton had done what Bush did, we might have avoided 9/11.
One more time, Bubba. Here we are at war - a real war for the DEFENSE of America, and not some sociological exercise in the erstwhile Yugoslavia, and a former president says the sitting president has broken federal law. That is seditious.
Besides, Mr. Clinton lies under oath.
What a guy.
Putz.
Never Trust Big Media
By saying "It seems to me that unless there's a reason not to, we ought to use that surveillance court." He allows others to draw conclusions, and the press don't ask any qualifier questions.
OK, picture this:
Bubba - Leader of the Free World - standing in the smaller area off of the Oval Office with his trousers and shorts around his ankles, with Monica on her kness in front of him doing what she apparently does best, and Bubba, with his head tilted back and eyes rolling back in their sockets, saying "GO BABY!".
Ummm, this is a man whom we should listen to one word of?
Bubba, just STFU; you are the epitome of irrelevance.
And he's competing strongly against Jimmy Carter for that title too.
The wrong thinking and vileness of former democratic presidents amazes me. When was the last time you heard a former Republican president bashing a Democratic Pres. and push toward the "impeachment gang"? How unseemly! No wonder the rest of the world looks at the US and laughs.
"Clinton said that when he was president, he always tried to work within the constraints of the law."
He said he "tried" -- he didn't say he tried very hard or was successful...
"Always tried" are the key Clinton-speak words here.He doesn't say ALWAYS without qualifying it.
"tried" to get us a tax cut
or "tried" to get Ben Laden
I guess you could say the Clinton presidency was a very trying experience for us all.
As with everything...it's the thought that counts.
The real deal is:The crud has been disbarred for life from ever doing business in front of the Supreme Court.
I'd say he did something really, really bad to have that on his resume.
In two days, Hillary will "feel safe enough" to repeat his statement adding that the people have the right to know...and the Dems are filling out the Supreme Court paperwork as we speak.
Notice however, that he says "As a legal proposition, I don't know" which counters everything else he is saying.
That's a surprise because he always touts himself as a Constitutional lawyer.
As long as one word out of the mouth of Bill Clinton is considered to be news worthy; the collective sanity of America will remain in grave doubt.
HE IS LUCKY HIS DEALINGS WITH RED CHINA WERE NOT INVESTIGATED!
Billy or hitlery klinton talking about LAWLESSNESS is about as ironic as teddy kennedy grilling ANYONE regarding values.
Oh Thanks for the scoop! Bill we really TREASURE your opinionssssssss.
Unless there is a reason...hey Bill did you not hear of 9-11? Allow meto refresh you memory, 3000 Americans killed by a man you allowed to remain free.
But collecting 700 FBI files on private AMERICAN CITIZENS, was just an "innocent bureauratic snafu" in HIS administration. He and his wife should be breaking rocks at a Federal Prison.
Clinton said that when he was president, he always tried to work within the constraints of the law.
Too funny....... Great black comedian....
"he didn't say he tried very hard or was successful..."
LOL! Excellent catch, totally missed by most of us. If the slick one ever finds a way to compress his words into a pressurized can, the makers of WD-40, will have some serious competition.
Echelon, a Clinton era invention, was much worse than the present system. The Clintons used it to spy on Americans in America. There is no end to the idiocy and lying of RATS!
We found Padilla's al Qaeda application, U.S. says
The case is built on thousands of government wiretaps of the alleged terrorist cell's telephone conversations from 1993 to 2001.
(SPEW!)
WHAT?!?!?!?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Clinton owes me a keyboard.
Not until he dies. He and Jimmah are like dog poop lodged in the lugs in your hiking boots.
'LOL! Excellent catch...'
Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm finding it very difficult to see much humor in any of this --- it nauseates me. I've always enjoyed ironic humor, but this is just sick. That the media can constantly nitpick and smear the current president, who's doing his damnedest to try to protect our country from those who would destroy it, while totally ignoring the the damage done to it by his predecessor, makes me totally ill.
BTW -- I've enjoyed your comments about the WD-40 replacement, and, especially, the one referencing the collective sanity of the American public. How sad, how true!
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