White House seen to use wiretaps as campaign asset

[sabra]

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/White_House_seen_to_use_wiretaps_0122.html

White House seen to use wiretaps as campaign asset
RAW STORY

"With Karl Rove's speech to national Republicans on Friday -- followed by a hard-hitting campaign of speeches and events this week -- the White House has effectively declared that it views its controversial secret surveillance program not as a political liability but as a tool: a way to attack Democrats and re-establish President Bush's standing after a difficult year," the NEW YORK TIMES' Adam Nagourney declares in a news analysis slotted for Monday page ones...

The piece is set to lay out a strategy that has been employed by the Bush campaign before -- to use what some might view as a liability and turn it into a political asset. The Bush campaign did this in 2004 with the President's troubled National Guard Service, questioning Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on his own military credentials.

Nagourney writes: "Whether the White House can succeed depends very much, members of both parties say, on its success in framing the debate at a time when the country is torn between two very strong pulls: its historic aversion to governmental intrusion and its recently born fear of a terrorist attacks at home."

[uppityperson]

1. Okay. Let's see how they spin this one.

wiretapping keeps you safe, healthcare, food and medicine affordable and teaches your children how to spell good (sic).

[jamesinca]

29. Here is how they will spin it

We need to have this done to protect our freedoms because there are terrorist, that is how they will spin it. A global war on terror, that is what we are involved in. 9/11!!! Iraq, Iran 9/11 be afraid, but I am keeping you safer so be afraid. Oh and I forgot this one, we are fighting them over there so we do not have to fight them here. We have not had a terrorist attack in the U.S. since he started doing this have we? Spreading democracy, they hate us for our freedoms. So I guess George is going to take away our freedoms so they don't have to, mighty nice of the little bastard.

[ckramer]

2. Ask not what you can do for your country,

but what your country can do for you, until 2008 election.

HahAhaha!

[rzemanfl]

3. Well of course listening in to what the Dems are saying to each

other is a "campaign asset."

[bullimiami]

4. no shit its campaign asset. noone who opposes them can keep any secrets.

they have the full force of the us intelligence agencies working on their reelections.

[Nutmegger]

5. So the Dems will be painted as those who are "weak on defense"

and the sheep will follow then another Repuke majority.

Damn, let's hope the public doesn't buy the RW spin machine.

[AtomicKitten]

31. 1/2 already has -- along political lines

They will try to paint civil liberties as pussy fodder and that having a corrupt, law-breaking president is a plus.

[Zenlitened]

6. "We can protect America while preserving our liberties.... It's...

... not a matter of either/or."

Democratic leaders, feel free to use that in "framing" the issue.

...framing the debate at a time when the country is torn between two very strong pulls: its historic aversion to governmental intrusion and its recently born fear of a terrorist attacks at home...

Seriously, is that so hard? We can preserve 200-plus years of constitutional requirements for judicial oversight ... and still go after the bad guys.

It's NOT either/or.

:grr:

[jaxx]

7. I just found this from McCain about the wiretaps. FlipFlop

Today on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Bush’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program is illegal:

WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.

MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it. And so let’s have the hearings.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/22/mccain-wiretaps-illegal/

So in other words, yep it's illegal, but if dubya want it, we'll be sure he gets it. I don't like this guy.

[Somawas]

10. McCain is W's bitch.

Not too sure why he's supposedly the "Democrats' favorite Republican." Cause he is W's bitch. Has been since the 2000 SC primary.

[jaxx]

11. Like Lieberman is the pubs favorite.

Someone they can diddle with and make it look like the dems are going right.

[depakid]

8. Adam Nagourney....

Take this "story" with a huge grain of salt....

Nagourney has no business writing in the "news" section, because he damn near always editorializes- if sometimes subtly, throughout his copy- which invariably involves placing the Dems in a bad (or false) light.

[54anickel]

9. OK, so how much is OBL's recording contract with Rove worth? This

is the 3rd or 4th article I've read this evening that just makes the timimg of the latest hit release from OBL seem so perfect.

There was another post that said something about Rove's Friday GOP pep-talk on making national security the number one talking point for the campaign trail at the exact same time that the OBL tape was making headlines. Can't remember the others off the top of my head, but I've gone "hmmmm - the OBL tape" 3 or 4 times tonight.

[HuffleClaw]

12. EEEEEEEP

this is just insane, they have really gone right over the edge. i guess its just an extension of their philosophy of 'attack the attacker'. i doubt it will work.

[joefree1]

13. Bush is wire tapping Democratic Senators.

Okay, We don't know this. Nobody knows! This is my talking point. Neo-cons can't answer this because there are no "checks and balances." Hello!



The king is a fink!

[Child_Of_Isis]

14. I am sure he also has wire tapped pukes...

that is how he keeps them in line.

[DBoon]

15. well now Rove can claim he really listens to the American public

nt

[leesa]

16. Breaking federal law is an asset for the Republicans

Shows you just how very low they are.

[KitSileya]

26. To be honest, if this works,

it shows you how low the American people are. My God, if this ploy actually works I'd be tempted to say they get exactly what they deserve/voted for. If the average Joe is deceived by this, there can be no hope.

[Zhade]

17. K/R

NT!

[Democat]

18. Democrats are such wimps that right wingers can do whatever they want

That's the shame of the last six years.

Elected Democrats have let Bush get away with everything because they are too stupid or too afraid to stand up and fight.

[sampsonblk]

25. No matter what comes up, fight like hell

I don't see the Repubs as outsmarting our side in each individual case. Instead, they have the formula that works for them more often than not: no matter what comes up, fight like hell.

Time to turn the tables on them. I surely wouldn't want to wake up after the '06 election and read exit polls that say the public voted overwhelmingly for GOP candidates because they will help GW Bush clean up corruption in Washington.

[killbotfactory]

19. "We must destroy the constitution in order to save it" - Karl Rove

45% agree
45% disagree
7% undecided
3% would like fries with that

[DeepModem Mom]

20. sorry -- mistake

[KakistocracyHater]

21. So he's saying breaking American laws are a Republican specialty

.........like we didn't already know this? & he thinks this is a strength? Why not give him-& the rest of them-a taste of their own medicine. Reap what you've sown goppies!

[DeepModem Mom]

22. LInk to NYT article --

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23spy.html?hp&ex=1137992400&en=59a0b56a6f522da8&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Delicate Dance for Bush in Depicting Spy Program as Asset
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: January 23, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - With a campaign of high-profile national security events set for the next three days, following Karl Rove's blistering speech to Republicans on Friday, the White House has effectively declared that it views its controversial secret surveillance program not as a political liability but as an asset, a way to attack Democrats and re-establish President Bush's standing after a difficult year.

Whether the White House can succeed depends very much, members of both parties say, on its success in framing a complicated debate when the country is torn between its historic aversion to governmental intrusion and its recent fear of terrorist attacks at home.

Polls suggest that Americans are divided over whether Mr. Bush has the authority to order the searches without warrants that critics say violate the law and that the president says are legal and critical to the nation's security.

But as the White House and Democrats are well aware, the issue can draw very different reactions depending on how it is presented. These next few days could prove critical, as both Mr. Bush and Congressional Democrats move aggressively to define what is at stake.

Americans may be willing to support extraordinary measures - perhaps extralegal ones - if they are posed in the starkest terms of protecting the nation from another calamitous attack. They are less likely to be supportive, members of both parties say, if the question is presented as a president breaking the law to spy on the nation's own citizens....

[savemefromdumbya]

23. They had an unfair advantage in more ways than one

they are unfair and play dirty. Not only do they spy on the opposition's campaigns but they also fix the voting machines. Not just in this country!

[Auntie Bush]

24. No truer words were ever spoken!

[struggle4progress]

27. Wow! They're gonna have a great list of "Reasons to Vote Repub"

1. Spying on the opposition in the name of national security
2. The best Congress money can buy
3. Drowning New Orleans
4. Using torture to improve America's foreign image
5. Screwing up Granma Millie's prescription benefits
6. George's Excellent Trillion Dollar Iraqi Adventure
...

[f-bush]

28. That they're bullshit take on this

because they're scared shitless if the American public ever wkaes up from it's collective nap, the shit is gonna hit the fan and it won't be pretty for the gop!

[grasswire]

30. that's two

Nagourney and Andrea Mitchell, both spouting this line that the WH thinks the American people approve of the spying and the WH intends to emphasize the issue in the SOTU.

[Moderator]

32. Actual article now out

This thread is about an article to be published.
The original article is now out.
Please comment here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2059325