We all love Keith Olbermann. But right behind him, for me, is Jack Cafferty.
Cafferty just said the following:
Wolf, the following story comes from the land of make believe - or believe it or not, however you choose to characterize this. The Justice Department of the United States has decided to launch an investigation into the legality of the NSA Spy Program.
Well that's about four years late. More details over the fold.
More from Cafferty:
Why, you ask? Well naturally, this announcement raised the eyebrows of some Democrats who think the timing of the probe is, to say the least, a bit fishy.
Now for those of you who are not following along at home, the Democrats take over Congress in January. And at that time, they can begin a formal investigation into the White House's NSA spy program, using things like subpoenas and forcing folks to testify under oath to find out whether or not this program, which ignores the FISA court rulings and has been going on for the last four years, is, in fact, legal. A whole lot of people don't think it is. Last December 39 Democrats sent a letter to the Justice Department, to the Inspector General - a guy named Glen Fein - requesting that an investigation be conducted. He declined. The NSA program has been ruled illegal by a Federal judge in Detroit earlier this year, but the Bush administration wasn't going to go along with that. They wanted to appeal the ruling and, in fact, got permission to continue the program pending the appeal.
Now all of the sudden they're gonna have their own investigation. Ain't that something. Here's the question:
Why is the Justice Department suddenly concerned about the legality of the NSA program?
I'm sure you folks have some GREAT answer for Jack. This is going on this hour. Mail your answers to Caffertyfile@CNN.com.
Have at it!
NOTE: All emphasis is entirely mine.
Update [2006-11-28 16:32:29 by RenaRF]: Hat tip to bumblebums who points out that Vyan did a serious diary on the subject of the probe itself this morning. It's definitely a worthy read.
Update [2006-11-28 17:17:30 by RenaRF]: Some of the responses:
"Hadn't you heard? The Democrats won the House and Senate. Investigations, big time." Kay-Naples FL
"According to some reputable scholars, the NSA surveillance program is an impeachable offense, similar to several of the counts in the impeachment resolutions against Richard Nixon. If the White House gets its own opinion that the program's illegal and stops it for that reason, the good faith thus shown will mitigate the offense, making it perhaps no longer inpeachable." David-Tucson, AZ
"The review will not examine if the program is legal, so it certainly appears that the JusticeDept. is no longer concerned with enforcing the people's laws but rather protecting violators of the people's laws. I hope Iraq gets their Democracy up and running pretty soon - maybe they'll send some consultants to Washington to teach a few politicians who a Democracy is supposed to seve." Terry-NC
"The launching of an investigation now by the Department of Justice is designed to acoomplish one thing: To provide cover for Attorney General Gonzales when he appears before the new Congress. I can't comment about illegal wiretapping - it's the subject of an ongoing investigation by the DOJ. Sound familiar?" Homer-Tulsa, OK
"Wouldn't you worry when for more than four years you had been breaking the law, stepping all over the citizens' Bill of Rihts and ignoring the Constitution? Their protection has left the building, and it's now time to panic." Dale-Paducah, KY
"Chapter 2 of the Republican handbook covers this. When confronted with criminal act: Claim ignorance, enter rehab, investigate yourself and find a scapegoat before the truth gets out." Kevin-N. Fort Myers, FL