by DemFromCT
The WaPo has the story of how little justification the concept of 'reasonable' has to do with data mining. meanwhile, the NY Times previews the NSA hearings with a skeptical Arlen Specter and a defensive Alberto Gonzales.
A year ago, Alberto R. Gonzales sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Bush administration's nominee for attorney general and a potential candidate for the Supreme Court. He will return on Monday in dramatically different circumstances, testifying as the chief legal defender of a domestic eavesdropping operation that has touched off a stormy debate over its legality.
Details of Gonzales' issues with previous testimony are all over the blogosphere. But it's worth reminding folks that this is the same Gonzales who had no issues with torture and has a rather broad view of executive/Imperial privilege when it comes to the WoT™ Long War™.
The fact is that like many other issues from war and peace to Bush scandals, we need a Congress with subpoena power that's not afraid to perform oversight; 2006 elections are not that far away. The NSA hearings are an opportunity to discuss the most egregious issues, but the Republicans in Congress will continue to shield Bush and his cronies from responsibility unless and unril they are replaced by the opposition party. And until that happens, Bush will continue to flout the Rule of Law whenever he sees fit.
An interesting Chris Matthews show (thanks to the guests, not to the Republican shill who hosts). matthews is enamored of Rudy, yet his guests voted 9-3 that the Bush Presidency was a failure and will be judged so in 2008. Interestingly, David Gregory was one of the 3 for success - based on Iraq working out.
Meanwhile on Meet The Tim, the Harwood-Brownstein duo took apart the republicans based on the current WSJ/NBC poll. If 2006 is a referendum on corruption and Iraq, good-bye majority. And the SOTU did not help Bush.
There, the interesting thing is a bare 52-47 majority in the poll on the NSA issue was presented (Tim tried to) as a 'win' for the President. Polls like this depend entirely as to how the question is asked. But the important thing is that a 50-50 poll is NOT a win for the President. He spent the whole SOTU suckung up to the 'non-partisan' in us all, after 5 years of DeLay-style redistricting. That's because he fails if he can't get beyond partisanship as far as domestic policy goes (see social security). His enablers in the press can't spin this, because he's so weak politically.
Posted by: DemFromCT | February 05, 2006 at 11:32
Watch Sen. Specter drop the ball today when he faces Gonzales's dog and pony show. I predict the Attorney General will blow a prodigious amount of smoke up Specter's arse and the rush will numb the poor guy's brain.
In addition to smoke Gonzales will go on full frontal attack, as per turd blossom's detailed instructions. He'll stun the committee with his OUTRAGE and SHOCK that anyone would question the Prezint's decisions on how to perteck americuns.
And watch what happens when the Democrats get their turns. Gonzales will turn up the heat. Another angry barrage. Which will turn them into whipped yellow dogs pissing the floor, bellies up, begging the Alpha Male to not take another bite out of their cowardly asses.
And at the end of the day, the repugs will resume their fascist agenda. Bidness as usual. NOTHING HAS HAPPENED at the hearing, and nothing will the next time they convene.
Why?
Because the Democrats, after six years, have not yet learned how to effectively deal with Karl Rove's fascist tactics. And I'm afraid this just how it is, and absolutely nothing is going to change...at least in MY lifetime.
http://palcewski.com/JP
Posted by: John Palcewski | February 06, 2006 at 02:58