Sweeping It Under The Rug

Last Thursday, after the initial report in USA Today about the NSA's phone record database followed by a pledge by 'maverick' Republican Senator Arlen Specter to call the telecom execs to testify, CNN's Jack Cafferty said that the Senator "might be all that stands between us and a full blown dictatorship in this country". However, as I noted yesterday, Specter is all talk. Every week, after the latest revelation of Executive abuse, Specter shows up on TV like clockwork to vow he will do whatever it takes to bring the President back under the law. Of course on this, like his 2004 pledge to "bring centrist judges to the bench", he always caves in at the end. We now have the latest example of this, a move that will take the President's illegal actions and make them legal-

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and conservative members of his panel have reached agreement on legislation that may determine the legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program, GOP sources say.

Specter has mollified conservative opposition to his bill by agreeing to drop the requirement that the Bush administration seek a legal judgment on the program from a special court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.

Instead, Specter agreed to allow the administration to retain an important legal defense by allowing the court, which holds its hearings in secret, to review the program only by hearing a challenge from a plaintiff with legal standing, said a person familiar with the text of language agreed to by Specter and committee conservatives...

(bold added by moi)

Mr. Cafferty, what was that you were saying about Specter standing between us and the potential dictatorship you were concerned about? That's like saying the only thing standing between us and fire is this big pile of really dry leaves. Let's face it, there are no 'maverick' Republicans. It's a farce. We need oversight. This November- throw the bums/elephants out.

And why is Specter's 'compromise' so bad?

An expert in constitutional law and national security, however, said that the change would allow the administration to throw up huge obstacles to anyone seeking to challenge the program’s legality.

Well, duh.

Glenn Greenwald asks the right questions posed by these moves-

Could anything be more obvious at this point than the fact that the Bush administration deeply fears having the legality of its eavesdropping activities adjudicated by a federal court?... [W]hy it is that they are so eager to avoid a judicial ruling on the legality of this program if they are so confident that the president did nothing wrong? People who are unjustly accused of violating the law are eager to have their name cleared. Why isn't the president?

A good question, maybe one new Press Secretary Tony Snow could answer...

...Or not. He said today it would be "inappropriate" to comment on these NSA matters.

In related news, the involved telecommunication companies are now issuing vaguely worded denials to distances themselves from the program. These statements came from BellSouth and Verizon. Josh Marshall doesn't buy it, stating "If you own a business and someone accuses you of an offense that goes to the heart of your responsibility to your customers, do you wait a week to deny it? I doubt that very much." He also looks at the wording of the denials to see what they're really saying. A good analysis; see the link for details.

Finally, President Bush reassures Americans that "We do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval." Is he telling the truth? Who knows. Perhaps it all depends on what the definition of is is.

In a very interesting move, the President is reversing his previous position on congressional oversight which has been up to now to only brief a select few members of Congress, even though that violated the National Security Act of 1947. From the AP-

The White House, in an abrupt reversal, has agreed to let the full Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees review President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, lawmakers said on Tuesday.

The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House panels disclosed the shift two days before a Senate confirmation hearing for Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as the new CIA director, which is expected to be dominated by concern over the program...

A move toward allowing more oversight... or just the appearance of it? Stay tuned.