Massachusetts Democrats On The Wrong Side of NSA Surveillance Program
by Aaron Margolis, May 12th, 2006 at 10:35am
Our elected officials in Washington are crying foul over the latest revelation that the government has been collecting phone call records from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
President George W. Bush yesterday defended the database built by the National Security Agency, first reported yesterday in USA Today, as a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism. The program is not meant to pry into the personal calls of private citizens, Bush said.
“The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities,” Bush said. “We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links of al-Qaeda.”
But Massachusetts lawmakers blasted the plan, unearthed just as Bush’s nominee to head the CIA, former NSA Director Michael Hayden, is seeking confirmation.
Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday demanded a “full and vigorous debate” over Hayden’s confirmation, and ripped the phone surveillance plan.
“The NSA isn’t just listening to international calls, but is collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans who aren’t suspected of wrongdoing,” Kerry said yesterday during a speech at American University. “How many times will government secrecy shield decision-makers from any kind of accountability? Enough is enough.”
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy called the revelation “shocking,” and called on lawmakers to investigate.
“If telephone companies and individuals in the administration with knowledge of this abusive surveillance refuse to testify voluntarily, they should be subpoenaed and required to testify under oath,” Kennedy said. The American Civil Liberties Union said the database validated its concerns that innocent citizens were being targeted in the name of national security. Bush said the news reports of the program could impede the administration’s efforts in fighting terrorism.
Looks like our Democrats are on the wrong side of the issue, as usual.
A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.
A slightly larger majority–66 percent–said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.
Underlying those views is the belief that the need to investigate terrorism outweighs privacy concerns. According to the poll, 65 percent of those interviewed said it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats “even if it intrudes on privacy.” Three in 10–31 percent–said it was more important for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.
Half–51 percent–approved of the way President Bush was handling privacy matters.
Entry Filed under: Capitol Hill
7 Comments
1. Liberal | May 12th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Your article is hillarious. You note Democrats as being on the wrong side of the NSA issue. Yet, you make no mention of the Republican senators who are also voicing their concern. Did you leave their comments out on purpose, or did you just forget?
Do you need names, quotes, and sources of information so you can complete your article in a balanced manor. Or would you prefer to keep it as one sided as possible?
As a former middle ground conservative, I have to say that people such as yourself are increasingly becoming more and more pathetic in your views and attempts to polarize national issues. Very sad indeed.
2. Liberal | May 12th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Awww.. how sad. You even have an “approval” feature on your posts so you can filter out any dissenters of your misguided articles.
You are truly pathetic.
3. Aaron Margolis | May 12th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Liberal,
Please reread the article. It only references MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATS, quoting in particular two senators named Kennedy and Kerry. There are no Massachusetts Republican congressmen or senators quoted or referred to because they do not exist.
Any other questions?
4. Salvatore Coglione | May 12th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Liberal: you must understand that as right-wing Republicans, the erstwhile “Editors” here are not totally clear how to do that thing called “fact-checking.”
There is indeed, broad, bipartisan concern about Bush’s illegal wiretapping and related Congressional testimony given by the likes of Gen. Hayden and AG Gonzales. Among notable Republicans who have criticized Bush’s domestic spying program are Sen. Arlen Specter, (R-PA), Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Sen. Lyndsey Graham (R-SC), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) and former Rep. Bon Barr. Even Qwest –one of the telecoms asked to provide call records to the NSA– refused out of concern that the request was illegal.
Just last night on Insanity and Colmes, none other than Republcan icon Newt Gingrich said:
So you see, Liberal, Aaron is merely posing –pretending that MA Democrats are somehow alone in their views far, far away from Republican colleagues and the rest of the public (the public defined as a poll of 500 people, ‘natch).
Doing this apparantly whips-up right-wing Republicans into an angry frenzy –a kind of mob mentality– after which they can feel self-satisfied about blaming all of their own failures on Democrats, so-called “Liberals,” and the media…
…then they wonder why the leader of their Party is polling under thirty percent.
5. Salvatore Coglione | May 13th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Another poll worth noting:
So tell us again: who is on the “wrong” side of this issue?
6. Matt M. | May 13th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Salv, it’s not a domestic spying program. And anyway, I’ll point you back to the poll cited in this post.
7. Knightbrigade | May 13th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
geee the moonbats are touchy about this, good. Maybe it will become an issue for the RED STATE, BLUE STATE game in the fall. But the article was about OUR/mASS hacks being on the wrong side again. Yes there are others, some even republicans on that same WRONG side. I wish we had a republican in this state, just to have a chance for him or her to be wrong on this issue. The bottom line is, to go from a “middle ground conservative to a liberal” that is pretty big cliff to fall from. Makes ya wonder if by middle conservative, that would mean Christy Mihos…..