doesn't this jerk President from 24 remind you of specter? In the series he always has this whiny wrinkly face...
Posted on 02/05/2006 8:50:29 AM PST by new yorker 77
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' explanations so far for the Bush administration's failure to obtain warrants for its domestic surveillance program are "strained" and "unrealistic," the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday.
Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), whose committee has scheduled hearings Monday on the National Security Agency program, said he believes the administration violated a 1978 law specifically calling for a secretive court to consider and approve such monitoring.
Specter, R-Pa., said he might consider subpoenas for administration documents that would detail its legal justification for the program.
"The president could've taken this there and lay it on the line," Specter said, citing the special court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
"That court has an outstanding record of not leaking. They would be pre-eminently well-qualified to evaluate this program and say it's OK or not OK," Specter told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Under the NSA program put in place after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government has eavesdropped, without seeking warrants, on international phone calls and e-mails of people within the United States who are deemed to be a terrorism risk.
The administration has defended Bush's decision to bypass the FISA law, saying it is too cumbersome to deal with in a post-Sept. 11 world of heightened security threats. It also said Bush had authority as commander in chief and under a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing force in the fight against terrorism.
"The president's authority to take military action — including the use of communications intelligence targeted at the enemy — does not come merely from his constitutional powers. It comes directly from Congress as well," in that post-Sept. 11 resolution, according to Gonzales' prepared testimony for the hearing. The Associated Press on Saturday obtained a copy of his scheduled remarks.
Specter was skeptical.
"I think that contention is very strained and unrealistic. The authorization for use of force never mentions electronic surveillance," Specter said.
In response to written questions submitted to him by Specter before the hearing, Gonzales gives an explanation why the administration bypassed the FISA court: "The delay inherent in the FISA process is incompatible with the narrow purpose of this early warning system."
Specter, however, said that response "was not entirely responsive. ... His answer wasn't really clear." The senator said there is no reason why the administration could not have consulted with the spy court or Congress, who could have changed the law if it was too cumbersome.
But Gen. Michael Hayden, the No. 2 intelligence official in the government, said the FISA process "doesn't give us the speed and agility to do what this program is designed to do."
The program's intent is to "detect and prevent attacks. This is not about long-term surveillance to gather reams of intelligence against a stable and a fixed target," Hayden said on "Fox News Sunday."
Specter's committee has asked the administration to Justice Department documents detailing the legal justification for the NSA program.
Asked about the possibility the committee might subpoena the administration for the material, Specter said he first wanted to hear from Gonzales.
"If we come to it and need it, I'll be open about it," Specter said. He added, "If the necessity arises, I won't be timid."
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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The spying DID brake the law..
an UNCONSTITUTIONAL law, thus no crime was committed.
Congress can't pass a valid law restricting the Presidents constitutionally granted powers, any more than it can pass a law repealing the bill of rights, it takes a constitutional amendment to do either.
And the President can violate an unconstitutional law the same way anyone else can. He can do it, and take his chances.
In this case, his "taking chances" saved us from terrorist attacks. If he had gotten a bill in Congress introduced to limit the scope of FISA, the debate would have revealed the methods of gathering intelligence, and the Brooklyn Bridge and who knows what else would have been destroyed.
Let them try to prosecute him or impeach him for violating a law by conduct that was always within a President's rights.
That is spelled ARM. Sorry about that.
Specter will now be the fill in the blank RINO for liberal MSM pundits and commentators along side fellow Congressional libs who are on unwatchable MSM programs.
Specter is a media whore who turns tricks every Sunday morning.
some one reminded him of those pesky ....FBI files that the Dems have...
Specter needs to read the Constitution.
The President does not need Congressional approval nor court approval to listen to foreign telephone calls.
Period, end of story.
I can't wait for some eye-opening testimony in these hearings about just what kind of conversations they are picking up in this surveillance program. The Senators are going to look like jackasses for calling this "domestic spying" when the DOJ and NSA show them just how many Al Qaeda sympathizers and operatives are here in the U.S. and how few of them are even legal resident aliens. There aren't enough judges on the FISA court to handle all the wiretap requests.
And another thing - is an illegal alien in the U.S. entitled to any Fourth Amendment or FISA protection?
Is Scotty really saying Congress never intended the Commander in Chief to authorize electronic surveillance of the enemy? How absolutely silly.
If his legal argument is that an act isn't allowed if it isn't mentioned in the law, then all his arguments in favor of abortion just vaporized.
Yes indeed. Perhaps the banker boys, who own and operate government, keep ole' magic bullet around because he does not seem to mind making a complete fool of himself whenever they need that kind of distraction.
All anyone needs to know about Arlen Specter is that as a junior attorney on the Warren Commission when his elders hit a wall trying to explain one gunman, he invented the single-bullet theory.
He was full of it then and he's full of it now.
Dear Senator,I am not voting for you for President.as you are a traitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think we should all let Arlen know how we feel about President Bush's spying on terrorists program. Spying instead of dying. Priceless. On the other hand, I think Dems R Losers (posted above) could be right. The hearings will most likely backfire on the anti-American, anti-Bush, anti-military, living in a pre-9/11 world liberals.
Link for Arlen Specter's contact form:
http://specter.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInfo.Home
Washington DC Office 711 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510 Tel: 202-224-4254 Email: Contact Form
Pennsylvania Offices Allentown Office Suite 3814, Federal Building 504 W. Hamilton Allentown, PA 18101 Tel: 610-434-1444 Fax: 610-434-1844
Philadelphia Office 600 Arch Street Suite 9400 Philadelphia, PA 19106 Tel: 215-597-7200 Fax: 215-597-0406
Pittsburgh Office Regional Enterprise Tower (old Alcoa Building) 425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1450 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Tel: 412-644-3400 Fax: 412-644-4871
Can Specter read? He probably thinks the Constitution is a Sunday paper. What a moron.
Ok, I've had it with some of these so-called Republicans. I'm sick of it up to HERE with the turncoats, wannabes, and has-beens who don't care what happens to this country. May they all rot in a very hot place, which, I believe is located on the West Coast just outside of Los Angeles.
Hope all the FReepers who defended the President and Santorum for backing this RINO just because he was the pub incumbent (the so-called 11th commandment) are happy now.
Pffft!
FMCDH(BITS)
Hope W likes the guy he put in office.
This is one correct "Bushes Fault" accusation.
doesn't this jerk President from 24 remind you of specter? In the series he always has this whiny wrinkly face...
Exactly, and with SCOTUS moving towards constructionist, we may see some correction if these issues are moved to the Court.
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