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More Domestic Spying dirty dealings...

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:32 am
by Savonarola
Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.

[...]

Over the last few weeks, Mr. Rove has been calling in virtually every Republican on the Senate committee as well as the leadership in Congress. The sources said Mr. Rove's message has been that a vote against Mr. Bush would destroy GOP prospects in congressional elections.
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Rove2.htm

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't this reek of conspiracy, or racketeering, or reverse bribery, or something? Anything to prevent this issue from being reasonably analyzed, I guess.
If Karl "I-outed-Valerie-Plame-and-got-away-with-it" Rove is so unsure about the legality of the "domestic surveillance" program that he has to threaten to blackmail GOP members, what should that tell us about the program?

ETA:
More info on more questionable tactics:
George W. Bush has assured Americans that they can relax about his warrantless wiretapping because the program is reviewed by lots of lawyers and intelligence professionals. What he doesn’t say is that officials who object too much find themselves isolated, ridiculed and pushed out of their jobs.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m20389

That is to say, all of Bush's advisors have approved the program because those who don't agree aren't advisors anymore.

Making it up as they go

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:21 am
by Dardedar
I thought this was good. First Bush:

"Previous Presidents have used the same
constitutional authority I have, and federal
courts have approved the use of that authority."
-- Dubya, in his State of the Union address

Then the other day we have this exchange:

Russ Feingold: "Do you know of any other
President who has authorized warrantless wiretaps
outside of FISA?"

Alberto Gonzales: "Um, none come to mind, Senator.
I can’t give you an answer."


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D.