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Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 11:48:34 AM EST
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Bump and Update: Time Magazine outlines how Gonzales plans to defend Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance program Monday. Time has received a copy of Adminstration documents outlining his defense:

According to the documents, Gonzales plans to assert in his opening statement that seeking approval for the wiretaps from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court could result in delays that "may make the difference between success and failure in preventing the next attack." He will compare the program to telegraph wiretapping during the Civil War. In accompanying testimony, the Attorney General plans to leave open the possibility that President Bush will ask the court to give blanket approval to the program, a step that some lawmakers and even some Administration officials contend would put it on more solid legal footing.

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Original Post:

Senate Judiciary Committee hearings begin Monday on Bush's warrantless NSA domestic electronic surveillance programs. The star witness is Alberto Gonzales. Here's some background and topics you can expect him to be grilled on:

  • Watch the video of Sen. Russ Feingold questioning then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales during his January 6, 2005 confirmation hearing to be Attorney General. Or, read the transcript. Then read Sen. Feingold's January 30, 2006 letter to Attorney General Gonzales asking him about his misleading testimony regarding warrantless surveillance.
  • Don't miss the Move-On ad that will debut Monday in which Nixon morphs into Bush. It will be airing heavily on CNN. Raw Story has more details and a video of the ad which urges the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the warrantless domestic spying program. With 35 senators demanding one be appointed, Gonzales probably will be asked to state his objections several times.
  • The arguments presented in this letter to Congress by many consitutional scholars should also be a topic of questioning.

Don't listen to those who say the hearings will be no big deal. The battlelines have been drawn. While the media is over-hyping Sen. Pat Roberts' defense of Bush's program today, there are many on our side. Instead, read what Sen. Jay Rockefeller is had to say about the program and the Administration's failure to brief Congress.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

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    Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 03:41:50 AM EST
    Speaking of wiretaps, documents now show that Cheney and Rumsfeld sought expanded wiretapping earlier than 9/11 -- during the Ford Administration! http://edwardcopeland.blogspot.com/2006/02/darth-cheney-rummy-sought-wiretaps.html

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#2)
    by wg on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 04:02:40 AM EST
    Kudos (repeated) to CL for his/her refreshingly fresh graphics. Most Photoshop manipulations are downright dumb, ugly or sophomoric, his, as seen here, are anything but. Kudos also to Sen. Feingold, playing hard legal ball with neocons is the only way to preserve some constitutional order in this country. Wimpy whining is useless, so is, unfortunately, high minded rhetoric.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#3)
    by Pete Guither on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 07:45:36 AM EST
    Also check out Glenn Greenwald. He's been working on gathering questions for the committee to ask, and has met with Senate staffers to discuss them. He'll also be on C-Span debating the issue Monday morning.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 09:43:05 AM EST
    Glenn Greenwald says in today's post that the Democrats are already scared of the republican smear machine, which has already been activated. If they remain scared these hearings will be a farce. We can stop that. Here's how: WE ARE THE ONES who can give the Democrats the guts they need to do a good job at the hearings. We should send letters to every single senator, republican and democrat, refuting these filthy lies and telling them we aren't going to take it anymore. We've had it with the smear machine. The Republicans are bullies. We have got to stand up to them. If our representatives don't know how to do it, we do. Evidently senators lose their memories of school cafeteria politics sooner then regular people. We have got to stand up to the bullies as of NOW so these hearings aren't lost. Use these words from Glenn's post: Intimidating and threatening the people who expose wrongdoing and illegality are the hallmarks of street gangs and military juntas. The idea that anything meaningful was disclosed when we learned that our Government is eavesdropping without judicial oversight and approval has always been frivolous on its face. But the statement from Cheney that this disclosure caused ''enormous" damage to our national security" is dishonest trash, transparently intended -- on the eve of the NSA hearings -- to stir up populist rage against anyone who blows the whistle on misconduct by the Administration and to intimidate other potential whistle-blowers with threats of criminal prosecution and treason accusations from the highest levels of our government. We need aggressive and meaningful questioning from Senators from both parties who understand that one of their most central constitutional duties is to serve as a check on excesses by the Executive Branch. It was the Senate which was continuously deceived about eavesdropping by the Administration, humiliated into believing that the laws they passed were actually being obeyed rather than ignored, and now face a President who literally claims the right to take action without what he calls "interference" from the Congress. The FBI refuted the government's claim that these taps were useful. They gnerated to no leads that the FBI didn't already have. They could not have stopped 9/11. Those phone calls were recorded but they weren't translated until 9/12. That's in the public record. Write your Senator, your newspaper, your TV network, NOW. The swift-boating has got to stop and we are the ones who have to stop it. Google US Senate to find their addresses. Fax is the most efficient way to get through. Please fight!

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 11:59:08 AM EST
    Please take action as sozzy is urging! Do it BEFORE the weekend fun starts! : Write your Senator, your newspaper, your TV network, NOW. The swift-boating has got to stop and we are the ones who have to stop it. Google US Senate to find their addresses. Fax is the most efficient way to get through. Please fight!

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#6)
    by Dadler on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 01:14:30 PM EST
    Fear is right. But an entire lack of imagination is the real cause of the Dems inaction. If rhetorical thuggery is too tough for you to outthink and outsmart, then you're not much of an alternative all. I've contacted my reps, sent letters, I can only pray there's a Howard Beale lurking inside some Demo. Additionally, the logic that the FISA court is a burden is crap. They can RETROACTIVELY get their warrant. They're a bunch of whining, dishonest, delusional egos, so convinced that THEY are the only thing keeping us from terrorist danger. What a crock. As soon as any terrorists or normal person, or whomever, wants to machine gun a mall or retaurant or stadium full of people, they can easily do it with no trouble it all. Expanded monarchial powers, um, are not quite the answer in free America. But Bushco isn't about freedom, it's about fear and control. Freedom to them is something to practice like happy little shopping robots. A nation of yes-men is what they'd love. Mindless consumers. Thanking the Dear Leader for being the only thing between them and evil.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 01:31:46 PM EST
    Daedler-
    But an entire lack of imagination is the real cause of the Dems inaction. If rhetorical thuggery is too tough for you to outthink and outsmart, then you're not much of an alternative all.
    I would add, by your reasoning, that we also lack the imagination to get our guys elected. The Dems hands are tied until they have a majority. The house is run like a Plantation and no Repug dissents or thinks out of lockstep, Too dangerous to dissent as the penalty is great.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#8)
    by Dadler on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 03:02:38 PM EST
    Squeak, I'd say up to this point we've lacked the imagination. Even as the minority party, in an entertainment society, they've had a great many opportunities to capture the imagination of the electorate. Gotta do better. Much better. But I obviously agree the Dems need a majority, too. Makes things easier, but they aren't impossible now. Just need to have the heuvos.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 06:57:57 PM EST
    A. The President has the authority wire tap anyone he wants, including US citizens, for foreign intelligence gathering purposes, and has only to receive recommendations from the Attorney General, and brief the House and Senate intel oversight committes. This is a fact, look it up in FISAs documents. (I admit, FISA legislation maybe considered unconstitutional, but until declared so by a valid court, GW has every right and responsiblity to do what he is doing) So your hearings are already going to be nothing more than the usual grandstanding windbags trying to grab a few headlines. B. Its only a smear machine if your not completely weak and useless on national defense, and you are, so its not. More like a truth machine. C. It is too much fun watching your representatives bang their heads off this wall, only to find out yet again that their efforts will only leave them with a bad headache and still looking bad to the American public who wants to be protected.

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#10)
    by Sailor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 07:53:25 PM EST
    Ahh, turns out what we thought was a variable is just a constant;-)

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#11)
    by Edger on Sun Feb 05, 2006 at 03:56:13 AM EST
    Sailor, If you've ever done any computer programming, you'd know that a constant is an unchanging and unchangeable value, while a variable has zero intrinsic value of its own, and is just an object, an empty vessel if you will, used to hold whatever the latest bit of programmed information is assigned to it by the programmers logic. ;-)

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Sun Feb 05, 2006 at 07:28:54 PM EST
    edger, I stand by my original statement and would like to point out that zero can be a constant;-) Good one tho! [PHP/MySQL, MATLAB, *nix, C and just a tiny bit of VB and C++.]

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#13)
    by Edger on Sun Feb 05, 2006 at 07:33:21 PM EST
    Ha! I was waiting for that answer all day. :-) COBOL, Fortran IV, 360/370 Assembly, PL/1, VB, ADO, MAPI and a few others I've forgotten, and some I wish I'd nevr learned. And some things are constantly Zero. ;-)

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 08:21:02 AM EST
    Funny how you'd rather show off your vast knowledge of computergeekese than debate the facts. Could it be perhaps that you'd rather not know what the facts are?

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#15)
    by Sailor on Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 08:32:49 AM EST
    See edger zero IS a constant;-)

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#16)
    by Edger on Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 08:50:53 AM EST
    Sailor, you're right! And I just remembered that you can't assign any information or values to a constant. It never changes, once the programmer has declared it... ;-) "I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam!" -Popeye

    Re: Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday (none / 0) (#17)
    by Edger on Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 09:09:37 AM EST
    And thats an undebateable "fact".

    Alberto Gonzales in the Hot Seat on Monday | 17 comments (17 topical)