Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Friday, January 19, 2007
FISA Update IV
Well, so much for thinking we were making progress on FISA. Via Froomkin, here's Bush:
In a brief sit-down with Sabrina Fang of Tribune broadcasting, Bush had this to say:
"Actually the courts, yesterday, the FISA court, said I did have the authority. And that's important. And the reason it's important that they verify the legality of this program is it means it's going to extend, make it more likely to extend beyond my presidency. And this is a really important tool for future presidents to have. . . .

"I felt yesterday was a very important day for the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Nothing has changed in the program except for the court has said we analyzed it, it is a legitimate, it is a legitimate way to protect the country."
In other words, the only thing that's changed is that the Bush administration found one anonymous judge on the secret panel to say that what it was doing was legal all along
Let me state the obvious. We really need to know the details of this agreement with the FISA judge. The judge has stated that she has no problem releasing the agreement, but Gonzales is holding up disclosure (gee, wonder why?). The only thing that has happened is that somehow the Justice Dept. was able to spin the illegal wiretaps in such a way as to snow someone. Repubicans are spinning it that everyone screamed for FISA approval and now they have it, so what's the problem? The problem is obvious and it's equally obvious why Gonzales doesn't want to release the details.
Written at 1:28 PM by Greyhair.
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