More thoughts on the DoJ "leak" probe
Just my 2ยข on profmarcus' post below.
I believe this may also be an attempt by the WH to conflate the Valerie Plame leak investigation and the domestic spying leak investigation. Follow along with me. The majority of Americans understand that the leak outing CIA operative Valerie Plame, if not treasonous, did threaten national security as her mission was WMD. Bush has insisted that the secret program of warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is vital to national security. Again, they are trying to muddy the waters, as they always do. It's along the same lines of the "Clinton did it too!" defense. That is, all leaks of government activity, regardless of what side of the law they fall on, are bad.
I think this line of reasoning will fail.
First of all, Americans get that their President ordered the NSA to spy on them without any oversight or warrant whatsover. Yes, there are some nimrods who will say, "Hey, I don't care. I haven't done anything wrong, so go ahead." But the majority of Americans get what is actually being done here. The President believes he is above the law. King George believes he doesn't have to follow the same rules as the entire rest of the nation. We don't like it. And for those nimrods who think it's just hunky-dory, ask them if they would feel the same way if President Hillary Clinton was at the helm.
Second, there is another thing that is just starting to sink in. The warrantless spying may screw up real terrorist investigations and prosecutions. Real bad guys might go free because our vigilante President ignored due process.
Americans know that wiretaps (and any other search warrant) must be approved by a judge. We have watched too many episodes of "Law and Order" to know that cops conducting searches without a warrant, no matter how they try to frame it later to the judge, is the quickest way to get the case (or evidence gathered) thrown out. Already we are seeing this with regards to current criminal prosecutions ranging from terrorism to drug crimes.
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I believe this may also be an attempt by the WH to conflate the Valerie Plame leak investigation and the domestic spying leak investigation. Follow along with me. The majority of Americans understand that the leak outing CIA operative Valerie Plame, if not treasonous, did threaten national security as her mission was WMD. Bush has insisted that the secret program of warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is vital to national security. Again, they are trying to muddy the waters, as they always do. It's along the same lines of the "Clinton did it too!" defense. That is, all leaks of government activity, regardless of what side of the law they fall on, are bad.
I think this line of reasoning will fail.
First of all, Americans get that their President ordered the NSA to spy on them without any oversight or warrant whatsover. Yes, there are some nimrods who will say, "Hey, I don't care. I haven't done anything wrong, so go ahead." But the majority of Americans get what is actually being done here. The President believes he is above the law. King George believes he doesn't have to follow the same rules as the entire rest of the nation. We don't like it. And for those nimrods who think it's just hunky-dory, ask them if they would feel the same way if President Hillary Clinton was at the helm.
Second, there is another thing that is just starting to sink in. The warrantless spying may screw up real terrorist investigations and prosecutions. Real bad guys might go free because our vigilante President ignored due process.
Americans know that wiretaps (and any other search warrant) must be approved by a judge. We have watched too many episodes of "Law and Order" to know that cops conducting searches without a warrant, no matter how they try to frame it later to the judge, is the quickest way to get the case (or evidence gathered) thrown out. Already we are seeing this with regards to current criminal prosecutions ranging from terrorism to drug crimes.
Yeah, that's effective. Submit To Propeller
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posted by cls at
12/31/2005
