Bull Moose defends Bush on domestic spying...blasts ACLU Nixon/Bush ad.

[madfloridian]

The DLC's Bull Moose has been very grumpy this holiday season. He is especially grumpy toward the "lefties who are availing themselves to bash Bush."

But here are a few of own words in today's "musings."

http://www.bullmooseblog.com/2005/12/year-end-musings.html

There is a legitimate and important debate underway on the authority for the President's eavesdropping program. There are strong arguments that the President should have sought authorization from the FISA Court for the surveillance. However, in the Moose's view, it is out-of-bounds to suggest that the President was attempting a tyrannical seizure of power. Contrary to the not too subtle suggestion in the fevered ACLU ad in today's New York Times, this is not Watergate. Aging baby-boomers don't need to get their fraying Impeach Nixon shirts out of the closet just yet. There is no evidence, for instance, that President exploited the program to spy on domestic opponents or to assist in his re-election. If he did, it would be an entirely different matter.

Both the Constitution's clause granting war powers to the President and the Congress' authorization of the use of force against Al Qaeda appear to be sufficient to justify the program. The detection of phone calls between terrorist suspects and contacts in America constitute legitimate war activities in this new type of conflict. Establishing probable cause and justification might have been impracticable with the need to immediately mine hundreds of calls and electronic communications. And there are certainly precedents for warrantless searches.

While condemning those not naming Rockefeller and Pelosi and other who were told about the eavesdropping, he compliments Feingold with one side of mouth while saying he is wrong with the other side of his mouth. No, Bull Moose, Bush was wrong, and our Democrats would have been crucified if they came out about this in such a fearful time in our country...when Bush was still equated with God more often than now.

Now that the program has been revealed, it is lame for those briefed Members to suggest that this is a Constitutional and legal travesty. Even though this is a secret program, they might have gone public because the rule of law was in jeopardy.

Similarly, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the Patriot Act in the aftermath of 9/11. Now that memories have faded, almost all Democratic Senators, who once supported the legislation, stopped a modified version of the bill which accommodated many civil libertarian concerns.

It appears that we have an entirely new category of politicians -the "hindsight heroes". They express disgust at those same policies that they either supported or did not strenuously object to until after they become unpopular with the Democratic base. That is also true of many who once supported the war, but have now discovered religion. And entering their ranks are those esteemed current and former Members who didn't exactly "set their hair on fire" when they learned about the eavesdropping are suggesting that we have arrived at a constitutional crisis. As others have pointed out, so far none of the objectors have actually called for a termination of the program.

At least Russ Feingold opposed the war and the Patriot Act from the beginning. He is as consistent as he is courageous (while wrong-headed). It was also particularly gutsy of him to be the only '08 Democratic aspirant to have voted for John Roberts. If the left has a standard-bearer, Feingold is an admirable advocate in contrast to some of his "sunshine" colleagues.

And I find his continued contempt of the well-educated very telling indeed. Maybe if fewer were well-educated, there would be fewer to question the Bull Moose.

I find these statements just outrageous and over the line.

If lefties and some libertarians want to oppose the eavesdropping because they are privacy absolutists, fine. But don't suggest that the President has defiled the Constitution and broken the law. Sometimes judgments are right or wrong and not illegal or unconstitutional. The Moose acknowledges that he is deferential to Presidential powers during wartime. And this President has far from stretched the boundaries of precedents established by past Commanders-in-Chief.

We have two great parties in America. One is in thrall to big money. The other is under the control of left wing "new politics," upper middle class, and highly educated activists.

Yeh, Bull Moose, meet me, a highly educated activist. Indeed I am one of those. I consider your statement a call to battle. You just start after well-educated activists, Dear Bull, and see where it gets you.

Indeed, Sir.