...someone's gotta talk about this very large elephant in the room.
John Kerry on the confirmation of Michael Hayden, the man who would be Big Brother:
"I opposed the nomination of General Michael Hayden to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Circumstances make him the wrong nominee in the wrong place for the wrong job."
"The abuse of the CIA by the Rumsfeld Pentagon and the Cheney White House has hurt our credibility with unfounded claims of `slam dunk' evidence of mythical weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I don't think General Hayden is the person best equipped to restore the CIA's independence and credibility. It's not just that he comes from Secretary Rumsfeld's Pentagon, but because he was the Administration's principal spokesperson and defender of an illegal domestic spying program.
"We are all committed to destroying terrorists and preventing terrorist attacks before they happen. But this vote was a test of this Congress's willingness to restore the Founding Fathers' checks and balances and stand up to a government run by people who hold themselves above the law. How many times will government secrecy shield decision-makers from any kind of accountability? It was a mistake to confirm General Hayden."
Note that my home slice Kerry said
Cheney White House. At last, some Dems are growing enough of a set to call a spade a spade: That Cheney's really running this Theater of the Absurd administration and not Bush as his supporters charitably and stubbornly insist.
Hayden passed by a 78-15 margin. What follows is a list of all the Dems who'd voted against Hayden (Arlen Specter, as promised, was the only Republican to vote nay):
NAYs ---15
Bayh (D-IN)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Kerry (D-MA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Obama (D-IL)
Specter (R-PA)
Wyden (D-OR)
Now, to make you scratch your head:
Not Voting
Boxer (D-CA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Inouye (D-HI)
Boxer's name is the most puzzling and makes me wonder why perhaps the most fiery Democrat in the Senate wouldn't feel comfortable casting a loud Nay to this bald-headed lunatic Hayden, the man who was the architect of the NSA warrantless wiretapping program that's threatening to bring down the Bush Cheney White House of Cards. What's Bush's next move: Making his old buddy and campaign cash cow Ken Lay the Secretary of Energy? How about creating a Department of Wishing Wells and Loose Change and nominating Thomas Noe as Secretary?
<h5>"You do realize, General, that this testimoney may be monitored and recorded for quality control purposes, right?" </h5>
Personally, I'm shocked, shocked, I tells ya, that Lieberman voted for him. I thought that Joementum, with re-election time drawing near, would use this as an opportunity to make some token liberal gesture like, I don't know, cast a vote against the fourth amendment being completely ignored and turning America into a spy/police state.
So, to the 30 Democrats who adopted their usual supine position on the Senate floor today, here's liberal America's opinion of you:
Believe me: We'll remember you all when your own re-elections come up.
JP
http://jurassicpork.blogspot.com