(Cross posted at Daily Kos)
We have documented an upcoming Newsweek article that casts the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic spying program was “predictably partisan”. It’s not — not even close. We have compiled a comprehensive run-through of the numerous influential Republicans and conservatives who have voiced criticisms of the program. Without, further ado, here’s why claims that Bush’s warrantless spying on Americans is a “partisan” issue are plain, flat out, wrong.
Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME): “We … express our profound concern about recent revelations that the United States Government may have engaged in domestic electronic surveillance without appropriate legal authority.”
Read below the fold for more.
“Predictably partisan”? I don’t know think so, and neither do these folks:
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA): “I think it does not constitute a check and balance … you can’t have the administration and a select number of members alter the law. It can’t be done.”
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN): “I think the Congress quite rightly is trying to take a look at now the fact that we’re past 9-11, we’re going to have to live with the war on terror for a long while. And whether it’s the treatment of prisoners that we’ve been discussing, for example, or elements of the Patriot Act, likewise intercepts are going to have to be given, I think, a pretty good hearing.”
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) called the allegations of surveillance abuses ‘extremely troubling.’ Collins said the report ‘warrants further inquiry by Congress’ and that she has asked the NSA for a full briefing.”
Senator John E. Sununu (R-NH): “I don’t think the ‘use of force’ resolution authorized this use of NSA resources for domestic surveillance … this is the kind of activity that should be approved in statute.”
Senator Larry Craig (R-ID): “I’m particularly concerned about the long-term effect of the line we may be crossing. When we flipped the FISA over from just foreign governments and known spies and blended it into a gray area of the Patriot Act, we’re now talking about somebody who we have reason to believe is connected to a foreign government, but they are a U.S. citizen.”
Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-ID): “The Founders envisioned a nation where people’s privacy was respected and the government’s business was open … these actions turn that vision on its head. If the government is willing to bend the rules on this issue, how are we supposed to believe it won’t abuse the powers granted by the Patriot Act?”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC): “We can’t become an outcome-based democracy. Even in a time of war, you have to follow the process, because that’s what a democracy is all about: a process.”
Senator John McCain (R-AZ): “Why did the president choose not to use FISA? That’s a legitimate question.”
Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA): “Exactly like Nixon before him, Bush has ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct electronic snooping on communications of various people, including U.S. citizens. That action is unequivocally contrary to the express and implied requirements of federal law that such surveillance of U.S. persons inside the U.S. (regardless of whether their communications are going abroad) must be preceded by a court order.”
William Safire, a former speechwriter for President Nixon: “During wartime, we have this excess of security, and afterwards we apologize. And that’s why I offended a lot of my conservative and hard-line friends right after September 11th, when they started putting these captured combatants in jail, and said the president can’t seize dictatorial power. And a lot of my friends looked at me like I was going batty. But now we see this argument over excessive security, and I’m with the critics on that.
Check out a comprehensive round-up of these and many more statements at Media Matters. The criticisms of Bush’s ‘warrantless spying on Americans’ program aren’t partisan.
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