I have repeatedly tried over the past month to get an answer from my Senator from Virginia, Senator Jim Webb, or anyone on his staff as to why he voted to give Bush dictatorial powers to spy on Americans at will.
To reiterate, Webb and 19 other Democrats voted:
- to retroactively legalize ALL unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping Bush has ever done in violation of the Fourth Amendment, by giving telecommunications companies the same amnesty the Federal Government has to disobey the law at will; and
- to prospectively give Bush dictatorial powers to spy on ANYONE at ANY TIME without ANY CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTION WHATSOEVER by making clear that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for the first time since it became law in 1978, does not require the President to exclusively act within its dictates.
This means that the President is under no restrictions except the Fourth Amendment. But since he is immune from suit under the Fourth Amendment, we are all, in effect, helpless.
The vote of Webb - and 19 other Democratic Senators (and all Republicans) - assures that if Bush electronically "breaks in" to the Watergate Complex to steal DNC secrets and covers it up, Bush gets off scot-free.
Nixon, at long last, is vindicated.
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