An interesting divergence today in the wake of the news that the Bush administration will not renew the NSA warrantless surveillance program when it expires.
Big Lizards is ecstatic:
The media refer to President Bush's announcement that he will not reauthorize the NSA al-Qaeda interecept program... now that the FISA court has finally stepped up and issued orders allowing the very same program to proceed with judicial support, making it virtually impossible for majority Democrats to kill off.
Captain Ed is cheesed:
It's not that the program has ended; it obviously will continue. My anger is over the fact that the Bush administration insisted on two points: one, that the FISA court would not cooperate on streamlining the process for warrants on these intercepts, and the second that the Bush administration had the authority to proceed without it. They took everyone along for a big ride, making all sorts of legal arguments about the AUMF and Article II -- and now Gonzales has revealed that even they didn't really believe it.
I'm of the Power Line mindset on this one. I could care less about political battles over the program. The only important thing is that it be allowed to continue. That it will, and with support from the judiciary. Basically, nothing has changed except the program is now politically bulletproof.
If the media wants to paint Bush as the loser in this, let them. The clear winner is America and national security. Who should I thank for that, Russ Feingold and the NYT?
No comments:
Post a Comment