Oh, Please!
The Emperor has been busy speechifying on "Terra, Terra, 9/11" the past week, and yesterday he took that road show to Georgia, where he asked for more power to (among other things) spy on Americans. From the Washington Post:
President Bush urged Congress Thursday to give him "additional authority" to continue his administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. The speech was his latest effort in several days to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by framing the election-year national security debate to political and policy advantage.
Bush asserted that his administration has filled many of the security gaps exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks but said he needs more power to adapt to changes in the threat.
The confluence of the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and off-year elections would normally be the ideal time for such speechmaking and calls for legislation, but, as I noted yesterday (scroll down to "9/11:24/7"), the President may have overplayed his hand. Congressional Republicans are wary, as the WaPo article noted.
The president's appeal for congressional action to strengthen the legal underpinnings of the National Security Agency's surveillance program ran into roadblocks even as he spoke. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Spector (R-Pa.) suspended efforts to draft legislation until at least next week after Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) proposed new amendments and a bipartisan group of senators urged more hearings.
Mr. Bush has carefully chosen the venues for this series of speeches. All of them have been safe places to make these calls for more power. What he doesn't realize is that most Americans don't want to give him any more power, and many want to take back the power he has illegally usurped. Perhaps the confluence of 9/11 and the November elections will result in the kind of storm the Emperor hadn't counted on, one that he couldn't have imagined.
With any luck at all...
[Note: the complete text of the President's speech can be found here.]
President Bush urged Congress Thursday to give him "additional authority" to continue his administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. The speech was his latest effort in several days to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by framing the election-year national security debate to political and policy advantage.
Bush asserted that his administration has filled many of the security gaps exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks but said he needs more power to adapt to changes in the threat.
The confluence of the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and off-year elections would normally be the ideal time for such speechmaking and calls for legislation, but, as I noted yesterday (scroll down to "9/11:24/7"), the President may have overplayed his hand. Congressional Republicans are wary, as the WaPo article noted.
The president's appeal for congressional action to strengthen the legal underpinnings of the National Security Agency's surveillance program ran into roadblocks even as he spoke. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Spector (R-Pa.) suspended efforts to draft legislation until at least next week after Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) proposed new amendments and a bipartisan group of senators urged more hearings.
Mr. Bush has carefully chosen the venues for this series of speeches. All of them have been safe places to make these calls for more power. What he doesn't realize is that most Americans don't want to give him any more power, and many want to take back the power he has illegally usurped. Perhaps the confluence of 9/11 and the November elections will result in the kind of storm the Emperor hadn't counted on, one that he couldn't have imagined.
With any luck at all...
[Note: the complete text of the President's speech can be found here.]
posted by Diane at 3:55 AM
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