Andy McCarthy of NRO: Liar
By Mona
Ten ponies to those who can identify the falsehoods in this McCarthy post about the currently pending, contentious FISA amendment legislation (Andy’s post couched as advice to John McCain as a means of supposedly reestablishing some “conservative” bona fides).
Hint: FISA is not about to expire, and the government has always been able to intercept strictly foreign telephone and email exchanges (including per FISA), and would continue to be able to do so whether telecom amnesty is passed or not, and would also be allowed to do so where one party is on U.S. soil with a warrant. Whether the so-called Protect America Act (how Orwellian is that?) grants retroactive immunity to lawless telecoms has not a thing to do with “protecting” Americans, and much to do with immunizing telecoms who are in a lucrative bed with the federal govt, and violated the law whilst making it.
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McCarthy’s interest is scaring the crap out of us that if this bill is not passed post haste, we will have to stop listening to The Terrorists and They Will Slaughter Us All. That scare-mongering tactic is, of course, bullspit on stilts. His actual agenda is telecom amnesty, followed by a desire that the Executive-cum-monarch not have to obtain that triviality known as a warrant if the govt wants to spy on those whose calls begin or terminate on U.S. soil.
Comment by Fraud Guy —
February 6, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
And of course, telecoms would only stop helping protect us against the terrorists and criminals if they don’t get immunity. They would never stop for merely pecuniary reasons.
Comment by Glaivester —
February 6, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
It’s good to see that I am ahead of my time.
I noted McCarthy’s love of unlimited surveillance two years ago.
Moreover, he believes apparently that the constitution gives the president the power to declare war in all but name.
Comment by Monte Davis —
February 7, 2008 @ 7:38 am
How about we identify the truths instead of the falsehoods? Some of us don’t have all day to spend on this stuff, y’know.
Comment by Robert Waldmann —
February 7, 2008 @ 7:43 am
Actually the FISA court reinterpreted FISA last year. It is clear that the NSA can intercept foreign to foreign radio conversations using antennas in the USA without even a FISA warrent. The FISA court previously held that the NSA could intercept foreign to foreign communications passing through the USA on Wires or fiber optic fibers. This made no sense, but the head of the FISA court (Royce Lambert) didn’t care. The new head Kathleen Coller-Kotely noted that a wire in the USA is a wire and congress made no exception based on destination or origen when it passed FISA.
Thus, if congress wants to make the law like Lambert’s interpretation of the old law, it has to pass a reform. Bush, Repulbicans in congress and Rockafeller are trying to piggy back a permanent protect america act and telecomm immunity on this reform. Almost no one cares about the privacy of people who live outside the USA (as I do).
This is what creates pressure for a new bill in addition to that due to the lies suggesting that warrants are unobtainable (as opposed to never yet denied) or must be granted before interception begins