Joe's latest line of BS came on an appearance on ABC's This Week where he called for more domestic wiretapping in the US.Think Progress:
...Lieberman said, "I hope these terrorist attacks in London wake us up here in America to stop the petty partisan fighting going on about...electronic surveillance," in apparent reference to the Senate Judiciary Committee's subpoenas for documents related to Bush's NSA warrantless wiretapping program.
Lieberman claimed, "We're at a partisan gridlock over the question of whether the American government can listen into conversations or follow email trails of non-American citizens."... Liebermen went further in his calls for greater domestic spying. "The Brits have got something smart going. ... They have have cameras all over London. ... I think it's just common sense to do that here much more widely."
Of course, there's just so much wrong with what Lieberman's selling here and he knows it. But Joe's got himself firmly embedded in George W. Bush's pants and everything looks different from that perspective.
For example, Lieberman claims there's 'partisan gridlock' over whether the government can spy on non-citizens. But that's not the case at all. "President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States," the Washington Post reported in 2005, "Despite previous legal prohibitions against such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said last night." The NSA has been spying, without warrants, on citizens and that ain't so legal.
I guess, through the filter of George W. Bush's pants, concern for the law and the privacy of citizens is 'partisan.' You either let the White House break the freakin' law or you hate America.
Of course, Lieberman's televised BS toss was just an attempt to take the heat off the White House. Joe's hitched his wagon to the neocon star and, when that star sinks behind the horizon, Joe's done politically. There's no reason to call for the continuation of the NSA wiretap program -- mostly because, in addition to being completely illegal, it's been a complete failure.
NSA wiretapping has a spotless track record of zero arrests and zero convictions. At this point, it's pointless lawbreaking and a waste of time, tax money, and resources. All the terrorist plots that have been prevented in the US have been the result of informants, not spying. And even the UK's more muscular domestic surveillance didn't actually prevent a damned thing. The ineffectiveness of this latest terrorist plot is the result of the terrorists' failure. Spying, once again, didn't have anything to do with it.
It's only with the perspective that comes from deep within George W. Bush's pants that any of this seems like a good idea. Outside, here in reality, the whole thing is stupid.
In fact, this whole war is stupid and continuing it is even stupider. Yet people like Joe Lieberman often argue that we're already there, so we should see it through. It's a lousy argument.
Let's say that you decide that a house is being destroyed by termites and the only thing to do is tear it down. You start ripping off the roof and you find no sign of termite damage at all. You keep going for a while and it turns there aren't any termites. Do you stop tearing down the house and repair the damage you've caused or do you go ahead and tear down the house simply because it's something you've started and you have to 'see it through?'
Only if you're deep within George W. Bush's britches do you choose the latter. The first step in rectifying a mistake is to stop making it. Like the demolition of the house, George W. Bush's war has done more to wreck the middle east than the 'termites' have.
As this fight over the subpoenas builds, expect more statements and press releases from Joe Lieberman and the Office of George W. Bush's Trousers. Lieberman, like John McCain, claims to believe that Bush has done a lousy job of 'managing the war.' But if you pressed either for specifics, you'd find they really believe that George W. Bush can do no wrong. The criticisms are always vague -- mostly because the president is so unpopular -- but the defenses are always so specific. They criticize the machine, but believe that every cog, wheel, and lever is shiny and perfect. In the end, there's really nothing substantial they'd do differently.
--Wisco
Technorati tags: politics; war; Iraq; Bush ;John McCain; spying; NSA; wiretaps; propaganda; Connecticut; I've forgotten what Joe Lieberman looks like when his head isn't sticking out of George W. Bush's pants
