From today’s Beat the Pumpkinhead:

MR. RUSSERT: Well, the courts [secret courts that authorize wiretaps] very, very seldom turn down a request. He could have gone to a court to make sure that constitutional rights were protected for all American citizens.

SEC’Y RICE: Tim, the circumstances of FISA relate to rather more stable targets, people who are principally acting on behalf of governments. These are stateless networks of people who communicate and communicate in much more fluid ways and where the urgency of detecting where the importance of not letting it happen is far greater than I think anything that would have been envisioned in 1978, before we saw the twin towers and the Pentagon go down.

In other words, the Ticking Time Bomb scenario. The “urgency” of the situation (clock’s ticking) does not allow time for judicial review. Unless the executive branch circumvents judicial review, massive casualties will result.

…this is not law enforcement of the kind where people commit a crime, you then investigate that crime and bring them to justice. This is a case where if people commit the crime, then thousands die. And that’s what we learned on September 11 and so the president under his authorities – he is commander in chief; he needs to protect this country – has authorized this program.

“Thousands will die” if we do not allow the Commaner in Chief to exercise his “authorities” unfettered by judicial review in order to “protect this country”.

SEC’Y RICE: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, exactly. FISA, which came out of 1978 at a time when the principal concern was, frankly, the activities of people on behalf of foreign governments, rather stable targets, very different from the kind of urgency of detection and thereby protection of a country that is needed today. And so the president has drawn on additional authorities that he has under the Constitution and under other statutes.

MR. RUSSERT: What are the other authorities?

SEC’Y RICE: Tim, again, I’m not a lawyer, but the president has constitutional authority and he has statutory authority.

The “urgent” need to “protect” American Citizens renders FISA, to use the words of Abu Gonzalez, “quaint”. Again, the only scenario where there need would be so urgent is the TTB.

Note how KindaSleazy invokes 9-11 both as an example of “nightmare scenario” and as another favorite wingnut meme: “9-11 changed EVERYTHING”. Nice work.

Sen. Carl Levin was on next and destroyed Condi’s talking points:

I’m not a member of Congress who they might notify if they did notify a few leaders. That’s not the check and balance on the executive branch in this law. The check and balance on the executive branch in this law is a FISA court which they ignored apparently they didn’t go either before or after. There’s a provision in the law which governs the president. He’s not supposed to be above the law. He is governed by the laws we write. There’s a provision in that law that if there’s an emergency, he can actually tap a telephone, but then he must go to a court, tell the court what he’s done and get their approval. That’s the real issue here.

I hadn’t heard of that provision, but if it’s true, there is a provision in the law that accounts for even a Ticking Time Bomb scenario. So why wasn’t that enough for the Bushies?

Some possible explanations: they believe Presidential Authority is above the law; they want to be able to operate outside the law; the wiretaps they wanted would not have been approved by the FISA court because… (I’ll leave that up to your imagination).

More on the illogic of the TTB scenario and more Kiefer Sutherland hatin’ to come after Teh Fuh’bawl. The Niners are managing to not get bludgeoned by the Jagwires, for now.

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