Okay, it’s the lunchbreak.
Gonzales didn’t say much new that he hasn’t said before, and the impression one gets from he does say is not the impression one gets from yesterdays Washington Post story; in fact, Gonzales keeps insisting that what the administration is doing is consistent with FISA, that it is aimed only at Americans who have a link to Al Queda, in which case, one wonders why they have failed to go to the FISA court, either to get warrants, or to explain to the Judges what the NSA is doing and why warrants are a problem.
The closest Gonzales got to explaining why they haven’t gone to FISA was the cumbersome nature of the process.
Specter keeps expressing profoudn concerns, profound doubts, but he isn’t going to require internal memos be produced, at least not for now, and in other regards one gets the feeling he’s pretty much in the tank for the administration; guess he really wants to live out his days in the Senate being chairman of that commiittee; let’s disappoint him, shall we?
Well, in my view, the Democrats did not disappoint. They are all energized, they all seem to know the facts, and none of them seem willing to take the usual shit Republicans are shoveling.
Leahy was terrific on his first round, cutting off Gonzales when, in his first answer, he tried to reference what happened on 9/11; Leahy reminded everyone that he was completely aware of what happened, he was there; it had happened to him as well as to any and everyone in the Bush administration. He also made it clear that the differences that might develop on this issue have nothing to do with whether or not this of that person wants to subdue America’s enemies, and that a reasonable assumption is that all American’s share that desire. Leahy spent the rest of his time trying to get some sense of how close to the Sept 14th congressional authorization of the use of force, and the President’s signing of it on the 18th was to the passage of the Patriot Act and the amendments that were made to the FISA law, the point being, since we were cooperating with you, since it was our desire to give you all the tools you needed, why didn’t you ask for whatever revisions of FISA you thought you might need.
Leahy also asked if Gonzales’ justifications for the existing program would allow the government to open mail; Gonzales didn’t answer the actual question asked, insisting instead that wasn’t happening, and refusing to say more for security reasons, a ploy he used more than once.
Hatch did what he did with Alito; walk Gonzales through all the administration talking points. He was more irritated than passionate.
Grassely set the tone for most of the Republicans who would follow; bristling outrage, not at the administration, but at the leaker and the NYTimes. He wanted to know if the administration was going after that leaker, and Grassely wanted us all to know that the Plame dustup, wherein only a single CIA operative had her professional life ruined, was nothing compared to the damage that has been done to US security as the result of this leak.
Hmm…I WONDER HOW HE CAN BE SO SURE OF THAT, SINCE NONE OF US KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THE PROGRAM, HOW IT WORKS, IF IT WORKS…sheesh, these idiots don’t even try to be coherent. I think it was Grassely who also blamed those Senators who were briefed on NSA program for not raising the issue sooner, if they thought it was such a terrible idea, completely overlooking what people like Rockefeller and Jane Harman have told us about what the terms of their briefing were. I think it was Grassely who raised the specter of Moussaoui, and the inability of the FBI to get a warrant to get into his computer, but as I’ve mentioned before, the problem wasn’t with the FISA court, it was with Agent Rowley’s supervisor, who refused to seek a warrant.
How about generating some calls to the staff of Democratic Senators on the committee, reminding them to correct this talking point?
Kennedy took an interesting and quite different tack from other Democrats, and his tone was charmingly different. He embraced Gonzales’ emotional connection to 9/11, which Kennedy reminded the AG, was one which Kennedy shared; after all the Senator was with Mrs. Bush, preparing for testimony on NCLB, when 9/11 happened. Nice one, Ted.
What Kennedy insisted on was that a program which takes chances with legality could put us more at risk, more insecure, because we could find, after using intelligence to actually stop Al Queda, we might find we couldn’t use our evidence to put these guys away. Kennedy went on to contrast the Bush administration with the administration of Gerald Ford, and with Ford’s Republican AG, who were dealing with electronic surveillance because of enormous improvements in technology; the Ford administration approach was to consult with congress, full consult with them, and with outside constitutional authorities. Again, nice one, Ted.
It’s clear that the Republicans on the committee are trying very hard to paint this as a partisan divide, but Democrats seem aware of the ploy; I think it was Leahy who submitted for the record a piece by Bruce Fein, conservative member of the Reagan administration, which criticizes the refusal of Senator Pat Roberts to hold a hearing on the NSA surveillance program.
Biden was okay; a lot less wordy and folksy than usual; he asked a series of questions, hurrying the AG to give answers. One particularly interesting tack - Biden wondered why the AG emphasizes Al Queda to Al Queda communication abroad, but the administration seems uninterested in Al Q to Al Q communication inside the country, or is that part of this program that we don’t know about. Gonzales was definite; no, they are not listening to Al Q to Al Q here. Why not, Biden asks? If you can believe it, Gonzales’s excuse for not worrying about that - look at all the heat we’re getting for this.
John Kyl was a less scattered version of Grassely, but he did pick up on Biden’s point, commenting that listening inside this country to Al Queda to Al Queda is something we should be doing.
Feinstein was absolutely terrific, really, really good.
Sorry, the afternoon session is starting…I don’t want to miss out.
I’ll come back and fill in the blanks on this session.
Take it from me, Democrats deserve a good press on this one; can’t help wondering what the Milbanks are going to do with today.
I haven’t been able to check out Glenn; hope he has a similar positive response, at least to the Democrats.