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January 08, 2006

Liberal Joe Klein Thinks Fellow Liberals Are Goofy On NSA

The piece is littered with anti-Bush statements to prove his liberal quals, but he offers some sound advice:

... the Democrats are on thin ice here. Some of the wilder donkeys talked about a possible Bush impeachment after the NSA program was revealed.
The latest version of the absolutely necessary Patriot Act, which updates the laws regulating the war on terrorism and contains civil-liberties improvements over the first edition, was nearly killed by a stampede of Senate Democrats. Most polls indicate that a strong majority of Americans favor the act, and I suspect that a strong majority would favor the NSA program as well, if its details were declassified and made known.

In fact, liberal Democrats are about as far from the American mainstream on these issues as Republicans were when they invaded the privacy of Terri Schiavo's family in the right-to-die case last year.

But there is a difference. National security is a far more important issue, and until the Democrats make clear that they will err on the side of aggressiveness in the war against al-Qaeda, they will probably not regain the majority in Congress or the country.

The piece is titled How To Stay Out Of Power. But I'm not sure they need any further instruction along those lines.

Bonus: Turns out Nancy Pelosi's letter, leaked last week to show her "protest" against the NSA's more aggressive stance, was misleading, and deliberately so.

posted by Ace at 11:44 PM

Comments

"It's all fruit" What are the odds of that little gem getting any airplay?

Posted by: pinky on January 9, 2006 12:35 AM

Some of the wilder donkeys talked about a possible Bush impeachment after the NSA program was revealed.

Dude. 'Some of the wilder donkeys' were talking about a possible impeachment before the NSA program was revealed. 'Some of the wilder donkeys' will still be talking about a Bush impeachment three years into the first term of President Hillary Clinton. The descendants of 'some of the wilder donkeys' will probably still be waiting for the advent of the marvelous impeachment trial over a thousand years from now, like those millenialist evangelical preachers who read Revelations as a literal account of the promised future rather than a screed against Nero from Roman times.

Posted by: alex on January 9, 2006 02:27 AM

Oh, Joe Klein said that? Well then, I guess we can ignore the Congressional Research Service, and dozens and dozens of Constitutional scholars! Not to mention a raft of Republicans.

Whew, that's a relief.

Posted by: tubino on January 9, 2006 07:02 AM

Nancy Pelosi misleading? Tell me it isn't so! Oh whoa is me! What has this world come to when such an icon is misleading? I think Ace is just putting out propaganda, there is no way that Pelosi would ever be misleading.

Posted by: The Real Steve on January 9, 2006 07:38 AM

Cheese and crackers, tubino. You are either the most reading challenged lefty troll around or just obtuse. I'm unsympathetic to either explanation by the way. Watsa matter, the big kids at the lefty sites won't let you play there?

From the 2002 decision by the FISA appellate court, which wrote:

We take for granted that the President does have that authority [to order warrantless surveillance for foreign intelligence gathering purposes], and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power.

The CRS Report actually concluded they didn't have sufficient information for making a conclusive statement.

Whether an NSA activity is permissible under the Fourth Amendment and the statutory scheme outlined above is impossible to determine without an understanding of the specific facts involved and the nature of the President's authorization, which are for the most part classified.

As for the dozens of con scholars you cited, how many are not Democrats? There are Democrat con scholars who say the AQ spying is A-OK as well. So what's your point? If you're saying it's pretty easy to come up with naysayers about anything BushCo does, then I would agree; otherwise, not so much.

Posted by: Laddy on January 9, 2006 09:00 AM

The donkeys are trying to walk on the ice and are falling down instead

Posted by: spurwing plover on January 9, 2006 10:26 AM

It's not really self-defeating, it's quite simply the only chance they have to regain power. After years of screeching and nay-saying, there just isn't any way they can convince Americans that they are in fact serious about national defense.

No one would believe them. Even if one leader (tkae Lieberman for example) were to gut up, and tell it like it is, and convince America he is serious, we'd still say "but the rest of your loony pals aren't, so you can't get it done".

All they have is "bring the opposition down with scandals". That's their only shot.

Posted by: Dave in Texas on January 9, 2006 10:41 AM

Even though he occasionally gets something right, Joe Klein is a mojo-azzole...and still owes me fifteen bucks.

Posted by: TC@LeatherPenguin on January 9, 2006 10:45 AM

Somebody run with this:
In a letter to Bush, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said the National Security Act requires the

heads of the various intelligence agencies to keep the entire House and Senate intelligence

committees "fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States."

Pelosi, knew about this. Pelosi knew the entire committee was not informed. Pelosi is a co-conspirator.

Posted by: Duhgee on January 9, 2006 11:15 AM

Former Carter Aide says it all:
Ken Bass, a Carter administration Justice Department official and an expert on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, said the issue of the president's inherent power has remained unresolved for decades.

The White House's analysis of presidential power is consistent with previous administrations, Bass said.

Posted by: Duhgee on January 9, 2006 02:36 PM

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Top Headlines

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

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[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

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Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot

TJM talks about Billy Wilder

Democrat Congresswoman Sara Jacobs cites Me-Again Kelly, Cavernous Nostrils, Alex Jones and Tuq'r Qarlson as proof that concerns about Trump's mental health are "bipartisan"
As Bonchie from Red State says: Know the op when you see it.

Leftists who have been drawing Frankendistricts for decades are suddenly upset about Republican line-drawing
Socialist usurper Obama cut commercials urging Virginians to vote for the bizarre "lobster" gerrymander -- but now says gerrymanders are so racist you guys
Obama is complaining about the new Louisiana map -- but here's the thing, the new map has much more compact and rational borders than the old racial gerrymander map
Pete Bootyjudge is whining too. But here's the Illinois gerrymander he supports.

Big Bonus! Under the new Florida congressional map, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will probably lose her seat
And she can't even go on The View because she's ugly a clump of stranger's hair in the bath-drain