Comments on: Bush Again Demands Telecom Immunity

President Repeats Calls For Lawsuit Protection Over Wiretaps; Would Surveillance Suffer Without It?

Add a Comment See all 206 Comments
by mh4cbs1 February 24, 2008 1:57 PM EST
1) Why hasn''t Bush been IMPEACHED for lying us into needless war and for shredding our constitution?

2) Why did this immunity law ever make it out of the Democratic Senate??

Answer: We have a sick, disgusting, sleazy,corrupt, corporate owned Democratic Party that has long ago abandoned the average citizens of this country.
Reply to this comment
by enoughya February 24, 2008 1:33 PM EST
The gaul of these Bush thugs. They break the law and then they have the audacity to demand retroactive immunity. The public does not have such leeway under their administration of justice. Throw all the Bush thugs in jail.
Reply to this comment
by newz4i February 24, 2008 1:13 PM EST
If Congress allows the lies of the Cheney/Bush administration to be covered up, yep, we''ll be attacked again. If the truth gets out, Americans will have a fighting chance to war with the right enemy ... and this time we''ll win.
Reply to this comment
by inventagod February 24, 2008 12:58 PM EST

Bu$h and buddies caught burning the Constitution...

Let the courts sort this one out...
Reply to this comment
by tbweb February 24, 2008 12:18 PM EST
Naders hat is in the ring!

Lets hope this time it doesn''t affect the Dems.

Posted by liberalme at 09:07 AM : Feb 24, 2008,,,

Nader has no chance of winning, his purpose in running is to be disruptive and help another candidate by siphoning off votes from real candidates, politics at its worst!
Reply to this comment
by gkc99 February 24, 2008 12:17 PM EST
What a lousy little punk Bushit is!

This man would endanger us all, in his own words, in his insistence on immunity for a few of his billionaire pals.

Isn''t liability in civil lawsuits by a few telecom executives a small price to pay for America to be safe, Neocon-scum?

Cat got your tongues, members of the U.S. Fascist Party? Where''s your phony patriotism now, Ditto-heads?
Reply to this comment
by liberalme February 24, 2008 12:07 PM EST
Naders hat is in the ring!

Lets hope this time it doesn''ta ffect the Dems.
Reply to this comment
by sasi1-2009 February 24, 2008 11:58 AM EST
I agree with dowjones. It is definitely time to overhaul our government. The politicians do not represent the American public; both parties play to the wealthy, industrialists, and big business. It looks as though they are all more interested in lining their pockets than in doing a good job or representation. Look at who we might have as candidates & that should make us all thoroughly sick of this system!!!!
Reply to this comment
by grumpas February 24, 2008 11:44 AM EST
Bush appears to be more interested in protecting his big business friends than he is protecting American''s. In fact, he appears to be obsessed with the idea of giving them immunity. But, if they did nothing wrong why do they even need immunity???? Then why is he going veto it if we are going to be left unprotected????? It should be obvious to most this is more Bush BS and more Bush Spin! Not that he has bothered protecting us in the last 7 years anyway. I don''t see bin Laden in jail or even close to being caught!
Reply to this comment
by dowjones20k February 24, 2008 11:36 AM EST
Glenn Greenwald was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book %u201CHow Would a Patriot Act?,%u201D a critique of the Bush administration%u2019s use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, %u201CA Tragic Legacy%u201C, examines the Bush legacy.

) Salon.com

Posted by taotxzen1 at 08:00 AM : Feb 24, 2008

The last line explains the article .. salon.com is a radical left website .... and if all of Greenwalds allegations are true .. then why are the Democrats just acting like business as usual and not implementing impeachment?

Politics .... thats why .. and the GOP & Dems are DIRTY ... and dont want an all out war about each others infidelities ...

Do some real research ...
Reply to this comment
by dowjones20k February 24, 2008 11:23 AM EST
The LIARS of the GOP will stop at nothing to achieve total control,..Arrogant,Greedy,Perverts

Posted by neobrian at 08:09 AM : Feb 24, 2008

And please share with us how Obama or Clinton or any other politician is any different?

Many Americans are fed up with the politics as usual guard that have a death grip on America ..

Only gullible koolaid drinkers attack the GOP .. and disregard the Dems and thier improprieties and lies ... how many decades have the Dems been advocating for the "poor" .. and only with redistribution of wealth by the Federal government keep the "poor" in thier own demise ...

Dont be fooled by the politics of the same old guard .. change & hope are just words used to create emotions ... and emotions will not change anything.

If America wants change then the entire congress needs to be subjected to term limits and irradication of lobbyists & corporate payoffs.

Vote them ALL out of office and start over ...
Reply to this comment
by excoachken February 24, 2008 11:22 AM EST
No matter how stupid this guy is, he still knows which side his bread is buttered on. The big problem is that he assumes that all the rest of us are even MORE STUPID than he!
Reply to this comment
by neobrian-2009 February 24, 2008 11:09 AM EST
Shrub Propaganda
McConnell acknowledged last week that the White House%u2019s refusal to extend the wiretapping law was meant to pressure Congress to pass the Senate bill.
=============================================
The LIARS of the GOP will stop at nothing to achieve total control,..Arrogant,Greedy,Perverts
Reply to this comment
by taotxzen1 February 24, 2008 11:03 AM EST
McConnell/Mukasey: Eavesdropping Outside of FISA Is Illegal

by Glenn Greenwald

The White House yesterday escalated its most brazen, Orwellian campaign of the last eight years %u2014 shrilly accusing House Democrats of jeopardizing the nation%u2019s security by allowing the Protect America Act to expire even though it%u2019s the President and House Republicans who blocked any extensions of that law. As the Associated Press pointed out at the bottom of its story:

McConnell acknowledged last week that the White House%u2019s refusal to extend the wiretapping law was meant to pressure Congress to pass the Senate bill.

Ponder what it says about our press corps that the White House knows it can (a) block all attempts to extend the PAA and then (b) spend the next several weeks blaming Democrats for helping the Terrorists by allowing the PAA to expire. I know I%u2019ve made that point before, but this one is so brazen, so transparent and audacious, that it just hasn%u2019t yet ceased to amaze.

(cont)

Reply to this comment
by taotxzen1 February 24, 2008 11:02 AM EST

(cont)

In any event, the two honorable, apolitical, completely trustworthy Bush cabinet members %u2014 DNI Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey %u2014 yesterday released a letter (.pdf) addressed to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes which is basically a written adaptation of the scary 24 video produced this week by the House Republicans, breathlessly claiming that the nation %u201Cis now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats%u201D because of the PAA%u2019s expiration.

The letter contains the now-standard fear-mongering claims that telecoms will stop cooperating (and even have stopped cooperating already) with government surveillance in the absence of the PAA (an absence caused single-handedly by the President) %u2014 i.e., %u201Cwe have lost intelligence information this past week,%u201D etc. But there was one passage in the letter which seems significant and worth highlighting.

In the letter from Chairman Reyes to which they McConnell and Mukasey are responding, Reyes pointed out that under the still-existing FISA law, the Government is free to commence surveillance without a warrant where there is no time to obtain one. In response, McConnell and Mukasey wrote:

(cont)
Reply to this comment
by taotxzen1 February 24, 2008 11:01 AM EST
(cont)

(You imply that the emergency authorization process under FISA is an adequate substitute for the legislative authorities that have elapsed. This assertion reflects a basic misunderstanding about FISAs emergency authorization provisions. Specifically, you assert that the National Security Agency (NSA) or Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) %u201Cmay begin surveillance immediately%u201D in an emergency situation. FISA requires far more, and it would be illegal to proceed as you suggest].

Wow, what a blockbuster revelation. Apparently, as it turns out, in the United States it%u2019s (illegal) for the Government to eavesdrop on Americans without first complying with the requirements of FISA. Who would have known? It%u2019s a good thing we don%u2019t have a Government that would ever do that, or a Congress that would ever tolerate such %u201Cillegal%u201D behavior. And it%u2019s so moving to hear the Bush administration earnestly explain that they are so hamstrung by FISA%u2019s requirements that we are all deeply vulnerable to the Terrorists, but they have no choice but to comply with its burdensome provisions %u2014 because to do otherwise would be %u201Cillegal.%u201D)

According to Bush%u2019s Attorney General and DNI, then, this is what is called %u201Cillegal%u201D behavior:

(cont)
Reply to this comment
by taotxzen1 February 24, 2008 11:00 AM EST
(cont)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 %u2014 Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible %u201Cdirty numbers%u201D linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said.

So, you see, the Bush administration is in a really tough bind here, because they would really like to eavesdrop outside of FISA because they want to protect us all and keep us safe, but they just can%u2019t do that, because eavesdropping without complying with FISA%u2019s requirements is %u201Cillegal,%u201D and that%u2019s something they would never, ever do.

Glenn Greenwald was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book %u201CHow Would a Patriot Act?,%u201D a critique of the Bush administration%u2019s use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, %u201CA Tragic Legacy%u201C, examines the Bush legacy.

) Salon.com
Reply to this comment
by jjp735i February 24, 2008 10:26 AM EST
Bush & Friends have striped away enough of our rights. The Democrats better not help Bush strip away a citizen''s right to sue. If Bush & Friends did nothing wrong there is no need to.

This is a cover up and Congress needs to understand the people are watching. Sooner or later we will learn if Bush & Friends broke the law and if they did Congress will be held responsible if they help cover this up.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 February 24, 2008 9:18 AM EST
"BUSHIT I GUESS NOW WE ARE GOING TO GET ANOTHER BINLADEN TAPE OR CAPTURE OF ANOTHER TOP ALQAEDA LEADER IN THE NEWS... PEOPLE ARENT BUYING IT..." Posted by bluestardad

Don''t be surprised even if we have another catastrophic successful "Al Qaeda" attack on US soil.

These people are responsible for 4,000 US soldiers'' deaths, and at the very least 150,000 Iraqi, and Afghani civilian deaths, for the sake of profit, what''s another few thousand US civilian deaths to these people, if that is what it takes to complete their robbery?...DON''T BUY IT THEN EITHER.
Reply to this comment
by antizion February 24, 2008 7:59 AM EST
BUSHIT I GUESS NOW WE ARE GOING TO GET ANOTHER BINLADEN TAPE OR CAPTURE OF ANOTHER TOP ALQAEDA LEADER IN THE NEWS...

PEOPLE ARENT BUYING IT...

=================


You are right about that - Gitmo is nothing more than a mind control confession factory - a war crime for which ALL of our government officials must hang for.

They have had boys as young as 12 years old in Gitmo for years.

If these idiots really think the world is going to just forget this they should take a break from their posh DC life paid for by my taxes and corporate bribes.

The people in the country are quietly preparing for a revolution that they know must take place if they are to live free.
Reply to this comment
See all 206 Comments
  • MOST POPULAR
Latest News
News in Pictures
Scroll Left Scroll Right
Connect with CBS News

Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: