Thom Hartman - BUSH IS SPYING ON DEMOCRATS - Where are our Rep's on this?

[Vinnie From Indy]

Thom Hartman writes an article about serious questions that EVERY Democrat running for office should include in their campaign message. The GOP must be made to wear the Nixonian legacy of crime. It is quite clear that Bush is SPYING on Democrats using national security as a fig leaf of legality. Here is a snippet of Thom's article:

"Yet Democrats seem unwilling to even raise the possibility of Bush administration political espionage, and the compliant corporate press hasn't raised a peep. Even though there's a precedent for Republicans - and, more recently, Bush Republicans - spying on Democrats.

Remember November of 2003? Using naked political espionage, Bush Republicans used intelligence gained in an illegal spying operation to outflank Democrats.

Republicans in the Senate - including a staffer for Republican Senator Orrin Hatch - hacked into the computers of several Senate Democrats, including Ted Kennedy and Dick Durbin. Reading Kennedy's and Durbin's correspondence, the Republican operatives discovered the strategy the Democrats intended to use to attack Republican high court nominees. They leaked fifteen bits of Kennedy's discussions to The Wall Street Journal and other Republican-friendly sources, who used the information to successfully trash and thwart the Democratic plans. "

Here is the article link:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0710-21.htm

[havocmom]

1. Cowering due to the blackmailing the junta is doing? (n/t)

[Nabia2004]

18. has to be, its the only thing that makes sense - nt

[ComerPerro]

2. Its funny. I mentioned this possiblity to my maderate - liberal father

last week, said, "you know, the worst part about this, since they are doing it in the name of security, is we won't know who they are spying on. They probably spyed on Kerry and other Dems during 2004."

My Dad's response (he's usually well reasoned and skeptical, even of things like this):

"Oh, you know they did"


My mouth hit the floor when he said that.

[rocktivity]

3. This is no different from looking away from domestic violence

under the justification of "it's a family matter--none of our business."

We all have the right to know if the Dems are being spied on, especially if they're bypassing getting warrants. It's a form of sedition, at the very least.

:headbang:
rocknation

[rustydog]

4. Bush has been spying since before 9-11, who do you THINK

he would be spying on other than the "opposition".

Remember TIPS spy program? Rumsfelds pentagon propaganda plan that was allegedly killed along with TIPS...Shit, these guys are fundamentalist zealots who believe the rules do not apply to them.

Of course they spied on the Dems, of course they jammed the phone lines, of course they fixed elections in 2000 and 2004. They did it because they can and they will continue to do so until AMERICANS stop them.

[Marr]

12. Exactly- this is the same group that admits they weren't paying attention

to terrorism before 9-11, and yet they were spying on Americans before then.

So who else would they have been spying on but their political and perhaps business rivals?

[philly_bob]

19. And of course Bush Sr. was head of CIA /NT

[neoblues]

5. Ever Remember thinking "they always seem to be one step ahead"?

Perhaps during the Kerry campaign? I do.

[gully]

8. Indeed I do. No wonder "Rove is a master" of the political game.

He knows OUR game plan.

[Touchdown]

10. Now that you mention it, yeah.

I'm a bit slow on this uptake, but how did they know which phone bank to jam without inside information? Hacking into a Senator's computer isn't very hard, but it is illegal.

They must've known that Kerry was going to run on his war hero status by March, because the Swifties were formed in April or May.

[renate]

6. I wonder why Dems didn't figure this out

They could have written each other e-mails describing political strategies they didn't intend to use, sending the Republican spin machine off on a tangent.

[gully]

7. OMG

Sad !#% state of affairs. My guess is Dems don't know what kind of personal shit these scum have on them?

[neoblues]

9. Or maybe... they do.

Maybe they have been informed, quietly, of just what personal info the scum do indeed have on them... it would certainly explain some of the inexplicable quietness, timidity and general willingness to 'go along' with all the crap...

[alfredo]

11. Are they using the NSA to spy on Dems?

I wouldn't doubt it and would urge our party leadership to act as if they are being spied upon. All communication should be sent using a one day pad with the strongest encryption possible.

[sentelle]

13. Duh

I've posed this as a possibility since the PATRIOT ACT began.

Remember that per the PATRIOT Act, what groups are defined as a Terrorist Organization is at the sole discretion of either the President or the Attorney General.

If they have made the decision that the Democratic Party is a Terrorist organization, then they have Legal authority to Wiretap, Use the NSA, the FBI, the CIA, et al to determine who is involved, what their plans are, and (if they wanted to) round them up.

And the dumbfuck Democrats in congress let him have it........


Any wonder why we are left with a two-bit dictator who seems to know what is going on?

[originalpckelly]

14. I would never have remembered this...

I can't believe it. Now it makes sense. So this is how they did it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. How DARE he speak what's on our minds!

It's like, he's eavesdropping in our brains...aaaaaarrrrghh!

[Hubert Flottz]

16. They had to know how the country was reacting to the coup of...

2000, from the get-go!

[sybylla]

17. I mentioned this to my congressman and you should have seen

the reaction.

Just before the domestic telephone spying stuff came out in the press, I had seen an article that talked about domestic calls routed by AT&T through Canada perhaps falling under the order to spy on foreign calls. In the article, it specifically mentioned this congressman and calls made from his office in Wisconsin as an example of calls that might be spied upon.

I had a chance to speak with him and his wife rather privately one day not more than a couple of months later and mentioned the spying that may be taking place on his office. I asked his opinion of it. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew what I was talking about but didn't want to talk about it. His wife, on the other hand, grew panic-stricken and asked where I heard that. She clearly had no clue.

Unfortunately, they were short on time and "had to leave" before he could answer my question.