Spies, Lies and Wiretaps

The NY Times has an editorial today in the Sunday edition taking the Bush administration to task for their shameless, Nixonian campaign of lies and politics determined to mislead the American people about what the Executive branch has been up to. It covers all the big lies and reminds us what is really at stake here.

A bit over a week ago, President Bush and his men promised to provide the legal, constitutional and moral justifications for the sort of warrantless spying on Americans that has been illegal for nearly 30 years. Instead, we got the familiar mix of political spin, clumsy historical misinformation, contemptuous dismissals of civil liberties concerns, cynical attempts to paint dissents as anti-American and pro-terrorist, and a couple of big, dangerous lies.

The first was that the domestic spying program is carefully aimed only at people who are actively working with Al Qaeda, when actually it has violated the rights of countless innocent Americans. And the second was that the Bush team could have prevented the 9/11 attacks if only they had thought of eavesdropping without a warrant...

The editorial is then divided up into sections debunking the White House talking points-
*Sept. 11 could have been prevented
*Only bad guys are spied on
*The spying is legal
*Just trust us
*The rules needed to be changed
*War changes everything
*Other presidents did it

The editorial then concludes-

The Senate Judiciary Committee is about to start hearings on the domestic spying. Congress has failed, tragically, on several occasions in the last five years to rein in Mr. Bush and restore the checks and balances that are the genius of American constitutional democracy. It is critical that it not betray the public once again on this score.

Yes, it is very critical. This is a turning point in our democracy- what side are you on, Arlen?

Read the editorial, bookmark it, pass it around.