On Monday, Senator Russ Feingold will resume his questioning of Alberto Gonzales in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Wartime Executive Power and Surveillance Authory. You may recall that Gonzales
appears to have perjured himself in his responses to
Feingold's previous round of questioning on the administration's warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
This note is a call for action requesting bloggers to help shape the terms of the debate in the media both before and after the hearing by contacting editorial boards at major daily newspapers in your local community to encourage them to take a position against attempts by the Executive Branch to circumvent the law.
Text and video of Senator Feingold's previous round of questioning, a call to action, and talking points below the fold:
On January 6,2005, Senator Feingold specifically asked then AG nominee Gonzales if the President has the authority to authorize warrantless wiretaps in violation of statutory prohibitions. Gonzales initially tried to dismiss the question as "hypothetical." After further questioning, he said the following:
Judge Gonzales: Senator, this President is not- it's not the policy or the agenda of this President to authorize actions that would be in contravention of our criminal statutes.
Senator Feingold: Finally, will you commit to notify Congress if the President makes this type of decision and not wait 2 years until a memo is leaked about it?
Judge Gonzales: I will commit to advise the Congress as soon as I reasonably can, yes, Sir.
A Call to Action
Progressives have been complaining for some time that we don't have a noise machine. This is an opportunity for us to proactively shape the terms of the national debate on warrantless wiretapping rather than simply react to the news of the day.
Talking Points
Note:Anyone with additional/better talking points should add them to the comments section, and I will update this diary through Monday.
- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have perjured himself in earlier testimony on this issue before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January.
- President Bush appears to have lied about the use of warrantless wiretaps while on the campaign trail in 2004:
"Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution." GW Bush, 4/20/2004
- The FISA Court has only rejected 4 applications for wiretaps between 1979 and 2004.
- Civil libertarians, journalists, and members from both political parties have raised serious concerns about the legality of the warrantless wiretaps involving U.S. persons.
- President Bush should live up to President Reagan's pledge that "no intelligence agency in the United States, or any other agency for that matter, will be given the authority to violate the rights and liberties guaranteed to all Americans by our Constitution and our laws".
- President Reagan consulted with Congress before issuing Executive Orders governing the activities of intelligence agencies while maintaining the legal protections of American citizens.
Feingold Background w/Video
More talking points from Think Progress
SPIN - NSA SPYING STOPPED POSSIBLE TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES: "The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad." [President Bush, 12/17/05]
FACT - PROGRAM HAS UNCOVERED "NO IMMINENT PLOTS...INSIDE THE UNITED STATES": "The law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said the program had uncovered no active Qaeda networks inside the United States planning attacks. `There were no imminent plots - not inside the United States,' the former F.B.I. official said." [New York Times, 1/17/06]
SPIN - PROGRAM ONLY SPIES ON THOSE WITH CLEAR LINKS TO AL QAEDA: "Another very important point to remember is that we have to have a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda." [Attorney General Gonzales, 12/19/05]
...
Read the rest at
Think Progress.
Please use the comments section of this diary to recommend suggestions for improving this call to action.