Day 198

I think war is a dangerous place.

Day 200

Well, it’s an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. I means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We’re blessed with such values in America. And I - it’s - I’m a proud man to be in a nation based upon such wonderful values.

DC 2001

More technicalities on FISA

It seems a federal court doesn’t quite agree with the Shrubya administration  on FISA:

A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the “exclusive” means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law.

Duh.  Unitary executive my ass.  Compare Greenwald.

Hat tip: John Cole who observes:

As a side note, this seems to be yet another example of the Bush administration simply doing whatever the hell they want anddaring someone to tell them no. This time, someone did. Only took seven years.

Day 201

Unfairly but truthfully, our party has been tagged as being against things. Anti-immigrant, for example. And we’re not a party of anti-immigrants. Quite the opposite. We’re a party that welcomes people.

Ohio, 2000

A senator gives thanks

Day 203

You’ve also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that’s just more - when there’s more than talk, there’s just actual - a paradigm shift.

DC, 2003

Day 204

I’m looking for a good night’s sleep on the soil of a friend.

June 2005

Target market

From satirist Andy Borowitz:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain unveiled details of his economic policy today, telling an audience in Ohio that if elected he would support a real estate tax holiday for beer heiresses.

Sen. McCain said that his tax holiday plan could lead to a revival for the U.S. economy, arguing, “The key to this country’s economic well-being has been and will always be those Americans with vast inherited brewery wealth.”

The Arizona senator took great pains to indicate that the tax holiday would not be available to all brewery heiresses, “Just those with a net worth of over 100 million dollars.”

Mr. McCain’s real estate tax holiday proposal came on the heels of the news that his wife, presumptive First Lady nominee Cindy McCain, had failed to pay real estate taxes on her La Jolla, California home for four years.

But Sen. McCain was quick to dismiss speculation that his real estate tax holiday proposal was intended to help his wife, adding, “Anyone who is serious about fixing the U.S. economy would start with the engine of that economy, which as everyone knows is brewery heiresses.”

Standing at Sen. McCain’s side during his appearance, Mrs. McCain endorsed the real estate tax holiday and offered an explanation for her failure to pay four years’ worth of real estate taxes.

“I guess it slipped my mind,” she said. “Quite frankly, I’ve been busy coming up with totally original recipes for my website.”

Day 206

I’ve reminded the prime minister - the American people, Mr. Prime Minister, over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America [sic] would have a close relationship.

DC, 2009

Down to the (tapped) wire

Politico tells the truth about the turncoat Democrats who flip flopped on FISA in the House.

House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.

In March, the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity. But last week, 94 Democrats who supported the March amendment voted to support the compromise FISA legislation, which includes a provision that could let telecom companies that cooperated with the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance off the hook.

The 94 Democrats who changed their positions received on average $8,359 in contributions from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint from Jan. 2005 to March 2008, according to the analysis by MAPLight, a nonpartisan organization that tracks the connection between campaign contributions and legislative outcomes.

Just what we need - the “best” government blood money can buy.  Bastards.

Emptywheel at FDL goes through the chronology now since the Senate has planned a FISA vote July 8.  Read it and weep - and get working on your senators.

 

Day 207

I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace.

DC, 2003

Day 208

Well, we’ve made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don’t have to face them here at home. And whenm you engage the terrorists abroad it causes activity and concern.

DC, 2005

And he thinks this is funny

What a piece of work.

More FISA mischief

Greenwald has, as usual, a succinct summary.

But you reall need to read Dodd in full.

UPDATE: Here’s Dodd

Day 209

It’s negative to think about blowing each other up. That’s not a positive thought. That’s a Cold War thought. That’s a thought when people were enemies with each other.

WSJ, 2001