Hayden Hearing Highlights
Power Line
The Senate branch of the Moonbat Party was out in force today for Gen. Michael Hayden's confirmation hearing. Here, Russ Feingold tries to snare Hayden in a dilemma: the statute that established the CIA says it has no police or law enforcement authority; so what would Hayden do if President Bush ordered him to carry out law enforcement actions--rounding up people like Feingold, presumably--and claimed to have authority under Article II to do so? You really have to hear it to believe it.
Is it possible that Feingold really doesn't understand the difference between the proposition that
1) the President has Constitutional powers under Article II which Congress cannot infringe (true), and
2) because the President has Constitutional powers under Article II, he can do whatever he wants and ignore all legislation (untrue, and never asserted by anyone)?
Yes, I'm afraid it may be possible. Russ Feingold inhabits a Durbinesque zone of dimness.
Here is Feingold again, pontificating about the legality of the NSA's international terrorist surveillance program. He's wrong, as we have repeatedly pointed out, for example, (see at link below). And Feingold appears to be a reader of tinfoil-hat lefty blogs, as he resurrects the old chestnut that President Bush said in 2004 that wiretaps on Americans require warrants. We dealt with that claim (see at link below); in fact, there are dozens of exceptions to the warrant requirement. Anyway, here he is: would-be Presidential candidate Russ Feingold.
Dianne Feinstein asks the rather cliched question, since the CIA was wrong about Iraq's WMDs, how can we ever believe it about Iran, or anything else? Hayden answers politely; if it had been me, I probably would have said, Since Congress was wrong by orders of magnitude when it predicted the cost of Medicare, how can we believe it about anything else? But being a Congressman means never having to say you're sorry.
There were some voices of sanity in today's hearing. Here, Orrin Hatch asks Gen. Hayden what the effect would have been if we had had the NSA's international terrorist surveillance program in place a year prior to September 11. Hayden's answer should have sobered the Democrats. But, of course, it didn't.
And, finally, don't miss Senator Pat Roberts, who brings a much-needed dose of reality to the proceedings. His concluding words: "You have no civil liberties if you are dead."
UPDATE: A reader writes:
<<< How could any voter even contemplate putting these fools, cowards, and pacifists back in charge of the nation's security again? >>>
Well, yeah, that was the point. You'll be hearing us say this a lot between now and November: any conservative who stays home from the polls is seriously misguided.
powerlineblog.com
powerlineblog.com
powerlineblog.com |
