One little bit more on the NSA story today.
I'm not writing much on the NSA revelations today, as it's everywhere and I have nothing substantive to add beyond my own anger and disgust.
One little thing, CNN reported that the White House cancelled Hayden's preconfirmation meetings today without explanation. The source mentioned a cancelled meeting with Santorum.
Later: Alright, I lied. Several good comments in the NSA post below got me thinking, so I just want to make one quick point about the politics and timing of this.
Before this revelation, the White House was spinning that they were looking forward to a fight on the Domestic Warrantless Wiretapping program(aka Terrorist Surveillance Program) and I actually kind of believe that, as they could use it to paint the Dems as not as hard on Al Qaeda.
They had charged ahead with the theory of this confrontation being a political winner for them, got everything lined up, and now, suddenly, they'll be on the defensive. This fiendishly planned leak changed the political ground beneath them.
By waiting until after the confirmation hearings were announced, the leaker cleverly put the Bush administration in a box canyon.
The administration is now in a position where fighting that battle is no longer their choice. There is no way politically to withdraw Hayden's nomination without admitting that the program is wrong and so they find themselves in a position of having to defend a program that is far less popular today than it was yesterday.
To top that off, the leaker has also put the Republicans in Congress in a spot. Each of them is now doing their own reelection calculus trying to figure out if they're better off sticking with Mr. 31%, or turning against Hayden. We'll have to wait and see what level of chaos this creates among the Republican Congressmen and Senators.
And, just as a sidenote. Hats off to the leaker, eh? This could be the textbook case of how to use a leak to achieve political ends. I mean, had this been released in November, for instance, when the rest of the NSA stuff came out, it would've been bad, but it wouldn't have cut to the core. This is leaking at a master's level. Whether you approve or not of this leak, take a minute to appreciate the political brilliance with which it was executed.
(One more afterthought. To get a temperature reading on the Congressional politics of all this, keep an eye open for my state's shame, Senator John Cornyn. He's not up for election until 2008 and has been sent out to support every other unpopular Bush policy from torture to Guantanamo to the last NSA revelations. I think who the defenders are and how fervently they defend will tell us alot.)
One little thing, CNN reported that the White House cancelled Hayden's preconfirmation meetings today without explanation. The source mentioned a cancelled meeting with Santorum.
Later: Alright, I lied. Several good comments in the NSA post below got me thinking, so I just want to make one quick point about the politics and timing of this.
Before this revelation, the White House was spinning that they were looking forward to a fight on the Domestic Warrantless Wiretapping program(aka Terrorist Surveillance Program) and I actually kind of believe that, as they could use it to paint the Dems as not as hard on Al Qaeda.
They had charged ahead with the theory of this confrontation being a political winner for them, got everything lined up, and now, suddenly, they'll be on the defensive. This fiendishly planned leak changed the political ground beneath them.
By waiting until after the confirmation hearings were announced, the leaker cleverly put the Bush administration in a box canyon.
The administration is now in a position where fighting that battle is no longer their choice. There is no way politically to withdraw Hayden's nomination without admitting that the program is wrong and so they find themselves in a position of having to defend a program that is far less popular today than it was yesterday.
To top that off, the leaker has also put the Republicans in Congress in a spot. Each of them is now doing their own reelection calculus trying to figure out if they're better off sticking with Mr. 31%, or turning against Hayden. We'll have to wait and see what level of chaos this creates among the Republican Congressmen and Senators.
And, just as a sidenote. Hats off to the leaker, eh? This could be the textbook case of how to use a leak to achieve political ends. I mean, had this been released in November, for instance, when the rest of the NSA stuff came out, it would've been bad, but it wouldn't have cut to the core. This is leaking at a master's level. Whether you approve or not of this leak, take a minute to appreciate the political brilliance with which it was executed.
(One more afterthought. To get a temperature reading on the Congressional politics of all this, keep an eye open for my state's shame, Senator John Cornyn. He's not up for election until 2008 and has been sent out to support every other unpopular Bush policy from torture to Guantanamo to the last NSA revelations. I think who the defenders are and how fervently they defend will tell us alot.)
posted by mikevotes at
2:32 PM
16 Comments:
Qwest certainly raised my eye brow with this. This broke at an awful time for Hayden.
By
Bravo 2-1, at 2:52 PM
And, for Bush.
I have revised and edited my comments. Sorry, I took the Qwest line out, but you're right. And, I did call, and they ain't here yet.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 3:07 PM
One thing that I've added over at Blognonymous is that: Now that we know that the scale is 10's of millions, not 10's of thousands, Bu$hCo will have to defend the program by claiming that they can reasonably suspect 1 in every 30 Americans of being a terrorist or or giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
The mind boggles.
By
Anonymous, at 3:08 PM
I thought of that, too. I think that means we're losing the battle, eh? And, I put this part over at your house.
but keep in mind, that most of the numbers being thrown around are customers, not people, and that each one of those customers could represent a head of household.
So, in reality, when looking at residential examples, we're looking at whole families of Al Qaeda terra-ists.
And, as for the politics, it's just brilliant. My mind is still boggling at the deftness of this.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 3:23 PM
Can't we now more than reasonable assume that the NSA is also monitoring all internet traffic.
Why not ask the HMO's to hand over all medical records. We are still looking for a rather tall man with kidney problems.
He could be in Toledo!
By
left-over, at 4:02 PM
Irony of the hour: John Cornyn telling Wolf Blitzer he hopes Democrats won't make this NSA story into a "partisan issue" because nobody should politicize national security.
But as you note, Mike, Rove, Bush, et al. were delighted to politicize the NSA domestic spying program (or "terrorist surveillance" program as the preznit calls it) as of last night. But now that the USA Today story has exploded in Washington, not so much.
Too funny.
I agree with Cornyn on one count however; I too hope this issue won't be politicized. I hope members of both parties stand up for the constitutional and against this imperial president who has decided he is above the law.
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 4:19 PM
They may be already on both.
In the case against AT&T on the wirtapping, a technician already testified that internet traffic was being diverted through government equipment.
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/014808.html
ANd, although their use has been small thus far, through a national security letter, the FBI can get your medical records without a judge.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 4:21 PM
reality-based,
So, Cornyn was tepid? That does not bode well for the administration.
HE was the one who famously said, "civil liberties don't matter too much when you're dead," during the last NSA revelation.
And, I agree on the politicization point as well, but, you have to understand that in the current political climate, that if you say the constitution imposes limits on Bush's claims of powers, you are being political.
Because of the "two side" method of coverage the news people are now using, there is no absolute truth or right or wrong. It is simply dem or republican.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 4:51 PM
But if Republicans in Congress turn on Bush over terraist survelliance, what have they got left to run on?
I heard a woman on the national ABC radio news broadcast who was interviewed in a "person on the street" interview. When asked what she thought of the survelliance, she said that it's no big deal; that unless you're doing something wrong you shouldn't care, and that the government should be doing all it can to stop the boogieman.
Watch the polls on this. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bush get a bump up in the polls. At least that's what Rove hopes. And if he's right, they're off an runnin' toward the midterms. In the alternative, if he goes into the 20's (which he should), then watch for trouble from Congress. And make no mistake, Congressional Republicans will be looking at those polls very carefully.
Frankly, I don't think Americans give a rip about the surveillance. It's the war that's got them pissed.
By
Greyhair, at 5:03 PM
Oh. BTW. On that same ABC radio news broadcast, the anchor said that the surveillance was likely "legal".
By
Greyhair, at 5:04 PM
"civil liberties don't matter too much when you're dead,"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that comment the inverse of "Give me liberty or give me death?"
I wasn't even going to post on this, Mike, but much like your post, It finally just exploded out of me in one of my less constrained posts of late.
I like Kvatch's take, and I took it one step futher, which is that now we can all be connected to terrorists a la Kevin Bacon.
Expect to see a record trade deficit number come out tomorrow too, just to add insult to injury for Bush. If we get a Rove indictment the same day, I'm thinking perfect storm. He has got to be a little nervous.
By
Praguetwin, at 5:09 PM
Greyhair, I think this is legal in a technical since. This is call trap information not content, like on Law and order when the pull the local usage details of somebody.
And, as for the politics, I really don't know. This is a huge variable with all sorts of possibilities. The real question to me is how it resonates against other opinions of Bush. I agree Iraq is the biggest problem, but when a president is falling, bad opinions tend to be contagious from issue to issue. An inverse of your argument your argument yesterday, Bush was forgiven alot when he was riding high, now I think he will blamed for things.
On the Congress bit, you know the WhiteHouse is polling madly this afternoon. We'll know alot more in tomorrow's spin cycle.
And prague twin, the six degress of Qevin al-Bakon?
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 5:47 PM
Perfect storm indeed.
I keep thinking of the scene in Farenheit 911 near the beginning...a president in trouble, there's only one thing to do...go on vacation!
Other possible scenerios:
• Terror alert is raised.
• A 'major' capture on the battlefield, or in the states.
By
zen, at 10:02 PM
I'd forgotten about that. You made me laugh. Or a disrupted terror attack using the NSA, or Iran.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 10:10 PM
Yeah a disrupted plot or cell would be a perfect justification for the program...a little too perfect though I think. The public would see right through it.
By
zen, at 10:43 PM
Yeah, but I include it because they've done it before.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 8:12 AM
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