Gonzalez is on Charlie Rose Whining that FISA is Hard Work!

[Stephanie]

They must have coaches who teach them to speak in low, soft, patronizing tones.

"The Commander in Chief made a decision."

"Congress said, Mr. President, keep us safe."

He's lying so much he's starting to stutter.

[ladjf]

1. Gonzales might be the worst U.S. citizen in history.

[upi402]

3. Wow! Good thought.

I agree he's in the running but there are so damn many to choose from. And more weekly.

[ladjf]

26. I was thinking in terms of his being the ultimate facilitator of

criminal acts. We don't need a Constitution any more, just Gonzales to tell Bush he can do anything he wants to do.

[Stephanie]

2. "interestingly, no one has said, stop this program."

Charlie - yeah, but you can continue it while getting warrants.

Gonzo - Wilson and Roosevelt eavesdropped without warrants. blah blah blah

Charlie - 9/11 resolution gave Pres authority to wiretap? Senators have said, we did NOT vote for any wiretap.

Gonzo - We are a nation of written laws, not a nation of intentions of any members of Congress. we have to look at the written words, not what they THINK they're passing. !!!

[Stephanie]

4. "We don't have to rely on what Congress believes that they intended"

Charlie - so why are so many in Congress including Republicans saying, we did not vote for this.

Gonzo - congress shouldn't be expected to catalog all the things they are authorizing and not authorizing.

"Mr. President, we want you to protect us. Here is a supplemental grant of authority."

[FreedomAngel82]

5. They need to go back to US government class

Their job is to protect the Constitution. Not us. Ignorant fools. :mad:

[dchill]

11. Exactly...

And the media continually fail to call them on this. The oath is to protect and defend the Constitution, not the citizens. Ignorance.

[Stephanie]

6. the program the program the program

Charlie - Feinstein called it a slippery slope. Not against wiretapping, just worried about checks and balances.

Gonzo - In time of war, branches shd work together. Satisfied in this case by supplemental grant of authority. And we are briefing them. blah blah blah al queda al queda. Reviewed by Dept of Justice (i.e. ME). Monthly meeting of senior officials evaluating (i.e., executive is checking and balancing itself). But if you're talking to al queda we want to know why.

charlie - have americans been caught up in this surveillance?

Gonzo - well you can make a mistake without violating someone's rights. if you have no ties to al queda you have nothing to worry (your pretty little head) about.

[Aviation Pro]

7. Then Gonzalez is a lazy, stupid SOB....

...who probably cheated on his boards and went through law school drunk. And by the way, why does this guy talk with a lisp?

[Stephanie]

8. in honor of his boss

the Lithper in Chief

[driver8]

9. "Mr. President, keep us safe"????

Give me a fucking break.

Where do these idiots come up with this shit?? It is like a bad soap opera. Why don't they ask the people of the gulf coast if they feel safe?

Fuck these assholes.

[dchill]

12. Hell, he isn't doing THAT very well, is he?

[Stephanie]

10. Now Lawrence Tribe is up

If we could take VP's word for it that no one not connected with al queda is being spied on, then the substance wouldn't trouble me, but what bothers me is that we are simply supposed to take their word for it.

[Stephanie]

13. the aburdity of their claim that force authorization made it lawful

the admin says, well maybe no one in congress thought they were giving us authorization, but we couldn't tell them b/c that would blow our cover, ruin our program. to claim that they implicitly gave the authorization is to say that we can basically trick congress and use what they gave us as a kind of a blank check, trick congress, get them to give x, use it to do y. also really troubled by degree to which admin treats congress as if they're a bunch of clowns and fools, making the arugment that this FISA act with 15 day window REALLY means that when congress does not declare war, just force, that then admin can engage in this activiy for 15,000 days.

[Stephanie]

14. essentially teh president is saying, I am a monarch, I don't need Congress

[Stephanie]

15. oversight can prevent you from fooling yourself -

that even though you're omnipotent, you're also omniscient, and oversight can prevent you from making that mistake.

[Marie26]

18. People drunk w/power make mistakes

because they think they're omniscient, and we've already seen some of that with this Administration." Wow! It's so nice to hear people say it.

[Stephanie]

20. I wish he'd given him more time

what'd he get - five minutes?

[Marie26]

22. Me too

But considering the short time, he made a lot of good points & explained the dangers of this program pretty well. I was so glad Charlie Rose didn't interrupt him.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Now we know who the real lazy people are: Republicans.

[Marie26]

17. Most disturbing points

Charlie Rose asks "If a normal American has no connection to Al-Queda, do they have to worry about their phones being tapped?"

Gonzo - "They've got nothing to worry about."

Charlie notices he isn't answering the question - "So an American w/o ties to Al-Queda won't inadvertantly have their calls tapped?"

Gonzo - "They've got nothing to worry about."

Gonzo refuses to answer the question & instead repeats that they don't need to "worry." But are normal Americans being wiretapped? Gonzo's refusal to give a straight answer suggests yes. Charlie Rose is distracted by a bright shiny object & doesn't follow up.


And, Gonzales believes Bush also has authority to listen to all domestic calls.

Rose asks if they have authority to tap international calls, why don't they have authority for domestic calls?

Gonzo - "I'm not going to say the President doesn't have the authority, under the Force Resolution and the Constitution, to do that."

Hopelessly tortured sentence w/double negatives that are intended to distract. The translation is - "The President does have the authority to do that." He then follows up by talking that Al-Queda are in US, will use all tools at their disposal, etc. He says Bush chose not to do domestic spying because it's too controversial, not because they don't have the right.

The attorney general is saying that they have the right to listen to every call Americans make. This should be the headline in every newspaper tomorrow. If we let Gonzales' interpretation of the Constitution fly, we'll already be in a dictatorship.

[Stephanie]

19. He claimed Wilson and Roosevelt wiretapped domestically

He always forgets to mention that we didn't have FISA law then.

[Marie26]

21. Washington and Lincoln too!

:eyes: Oh, and Nixon too (but they don't like to mention that so much). The fact that he keeps relying on that dumb, easily disproven argument really shows that they've got no legal basis for this action. It actually makes him look worse, because he's still just continuing to pretend that FISA doesn't exist.

[serryjw]

23. How many times did he say " In time of War"?

Rove coached him well. Please explain HOW you can KNOW all of Al-Queda or other groups without Muslim profiling? They may know the leaders but there must be thousands of people whom now hate us and sympathize with them. He can't brief Congress because he doesn't TRUST them to keep the information secret? Regardless of what Congress decides they are going to do what they want anyway...they did before the leak. WHY is there so much concern to start an investigation into the leak when they didn't give a damn over the Valerie Plame leak?

[Justice Is Comin]

24. The White House Prayer

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Terror...Amen.

[bumblebee1]

25. That's a hell of a trinity. n/t

27. When Gonzales talks - it seems like he is trying to be just like Bush

with his "folksy" way of saying things and trying to act so naive.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.