President Bush (Briefly) Addresses Nation On Spying- Americans/Congress Concerned

No sooner did I add an update to my last entry noting that the President was planning to address the nation about the USA Today report on the NSA's massive domestic spying than the address began... and ended. It lasted about two minutes. I took notes during the press conference (if you can call it that, he left the room as soon as he finished speaking, not answering the questions being shouted by the reporters present) and here is basically what he said.

He started out, as expected, by referencing the September 11 attacks and the threat of terrorism. He said Al Qaeda is our enemy (as if we were unaware). He said we have to find out what the enemy is up to and we must our resources to do. He then quickly dismissed as rumor any reports that the NSA activity goes beyond Al Qaeda-targeted conversations. He said that the government "does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval". He reiterated his belief that his program(s) are legal. He said that the privacy of Americans is protected in all of this; he specifically stated there is no datamining going on. Finally, as also expected, he decided to kill the messenger- he said leaks of information such as this "hurts our ability to detect this enemy" without elaborating on how. The speech then ended, as it began, with the words "After September 11." He then immediately left the room without another word.

Transcript- here.

The abruptness, vagueness of information, and quick exit said a lot more than the President actually revealed in his words. So did the President's body language, which was rigid and angry (you'd think Stephen Colbert was there again). It showed that the White House knows this is a big scandal and that they are worried. The fact that the President made a short job of it and didn't take any questions also shows that he knows that his assurances (the same talking points they've been using since December, which have been ripped apart by experts over and over) simply won't hold under even the slightest scrutiny. For instance, the fact that the USA Today article- which validated previous reports elsewhere- debunks almost everything he said might have been a problem if he allowed any questions.

Anyone relying on the President's words today to be reassured on this matter is delusional.

The fact of the matter is that the drive-by spin we saw in this address is largely false. All of it- the program targets Al Qaeda only, they get warrants for domestic surveillance, it's legal, no datamining or privacy invasion, leaks have hurt our surveillance activities- have all been explored by numerous journalists (using government sources within the FBI, NSA, etc) and experts and, as I noted, have not held up under scrutiny. We know that they are engaging in domestic spying without warrants, we know they are datamining, we know that Americans' privacy has been invaded by the government and their own service providers, we know that the FISA has been all but discarded, and we know that their only backup to the assertion that the leaks have hurt surveillance is that terrorists sometimes 'forget' they are being monitored if not reminded.

I'm sure this story- and the brief address- will be poured over and dissected greatly in the coming days and weeks (I hope, anyway). But that's my immediate take on this. I know 31% still want to trust the President and believe 9/11 created a new era of justified executive lawlessness, but I also hope that this is the turning point. They want to portray any criticism of this program as an attack on the war on terror itself. That is the official narrative Rove has created for this and one all the Bush cultists have adopted seamlessly. One needs only read Michelle Malkin's take on this (ie. USA Today has damaged national security and should be jailed) or a new one on Powerline (stating Gwest- which has refused to hand customer records over to the government- has "now become the terrorists' telecom company of choice") to see how much far-right conservatives are willing to defend things they would've decried under a different President. Besides, Malkin's assertion that it's good to datamine doesn't mesh well with the President's lie that they don't datamine (because that would be wrong, natch). Likewise the Hannity-esque Powerline statement that Qwert is aiding terrorists by not betraying their customers' privacy is contradicted by the right-wing spin that any domestic data collected is not used for surveillance anyway. In the rush to defend Bush at all costs, basic facts and logic like this are usually brushed aside.

It also seems like much of the nation- while not openly defending it like the right- has just learned to accept all of this as a necessary part of post-9/11 life. I just cannot accept that. We have survived greater threats than this and we didn't have to grant unlimited, unquestionable authority to a President with a noted disregard for the constitutional balance of government in order to do so. That is not the America we were all taught about in school.

Another good question is how useful the program even is. I've had my doubts.

Finally, the USA Today article should erase all doubt as to the true scope of the NSA program. The President's response answered nothing and showed he has no intent of being answerable to the public and other branches of government about the NSA's activity in regards to domestic communication. It seems almost cliche to say, but we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis not seen since the days of Watergate. Someone needs to stop this President (even though he will use his 9-11/war on terror shield to scare them off) because if the American people willingly throw away their most basic freedoms in the face of temporary fear, then we're in trouble. Without strong public outcry, this scandal may go nowhere.

There needs to be a breaking point... God help us if this wasn't it.

[PS- No AP story on the address yet... hey AP, it didn't take me long to write about two minutes of nothing, did it? Yahoo does have a reprint up of the USA Today story, though.]

[UPDATE: Here's the AP article at last, courtesy of AOL News. The article is far more detailed than the President's actual address (it makes no mention of the briefness of it). Interesting enough, it features reactions from members of Congress most of whom, including Republicans like House Majority Leader John Boehner and Sen. Graham, are expressing concern. It also notes, correctly, that the President never denied the validity of the USA Today report. AOL also has polls up to gauge opinions... when I voted, it was a majority 76% stating they are bothered by the program.]

[PPS- Here's a quick collection of what other blogs are saying:
-Glenn Greenwald: No need for Congress, no need for courts
-AmericaBlog: Do you really trust George Bush to spy on you "the right way"?
-Peter Daou: We Are Frogs in Slow-Boiling Water, Watching Our Constitution Die]