This week Russ Feingold stood before Congress and presented his resolution to censure the President. He eloquently laid out what the law is, the process for doing legal wiretaps and how the law was broken. He listed a series of incidents whereby the President lied to the American people about doing wiretaps on Americans on American soil.
What Russ Feingold did not mention was the reports that have been coming out about how some of this wiretapping and spying on Americans does not involve terrorists, but instead is targetted at citizens who have organized to non-violently protest against the war in Iraq.
While the president and some others try to make the case that the NSA should be allowed to perform surveillance domestically without FISA oversight, I find it impossible to trust this Administration to only monitor terrorists when they have already shown a tendency to monitor groups who oppose the war. And I question whether it stops there. I think the Senate and Congress should be investigating whether this President is abusing the power of his office to spy upon his political opponents and citizens who express dissent toward his policies, while claiming to be spying only on terrorists.
I think that the Senate should vote to censure the President given that he has played fast and furious with the truth, bending it to suit his political needs. He clearly broke the law in this case and should be held accountable. And I certainly think Democrats should not be distancing themselves from Mr. Feingold's Censure resolution.
I think Americans, both Democrats and Republicans are becoming more and more disillusioned with this Presidency and its constant power grab. It is time for the Legislative Branch to put its foot down and uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Unlike what Mr. Spector said in his remarks following Mr. Feingold, Article 2 of the Constitution does not grant the President the ability to spy on Americans on American soil without any oversight. (Yes, I read it.) It does not give him the option to be above the law.
Also, I believe the FISA courts are a reasonable check of power in this case. I do not feel comfortable having the law changed for this President. I would hope you would not advocate changing the law.
Again, I ask that you support Mr. Feingold's resolution to censure the President. It's time that this President be held accountable to the citizens of the United States.