As someone said in Netland, the good news out of Washington today is that former Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s testimony adds more to the grounds for impeachment!

Ex-Bush Press Secretary Reveals ‘Secretive’ White House
WP: McClellan Testifies Against Bush White House

The bad news is that Congress allowed the FISA legislation to pass, granting a back door form of legal immunity for the telecom giants where a judge can grant them immunity - based solely on a piece of paper showing Bush authorized the illegal spying on Americans in the wake of 9/11 himself.

House OKs Bush Spying Law

While the press hasn’t seemed to pick up on it yet, this could set up an interesting scenario. If Bush offers up that piece of paper, does the legal responsibility then land on him and his administration?

Unfortunately, our very own Congressman Artur Davis, D-B’ham. - the same man who wants to be the first African-American governor of Alabama and has declared his intention to run in 2010 - voted for the bill.

As sole justification, he offered this statement, which I practically had to drag out of his Congressional press office’s hands via e-mail…

“I am pleased that Democrats and Republicans have reached a sound compromise on FISA, which strengthens our capacity to combat terrorism without diminishing our Constitution,” Davis says. “It is a tribute to the ideal of bipartisanship that this bill reaches the floor to ensure that America’s interests stay secure.”

Compare that to this statement today from Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Florida:

It has been a busy day in Congress today and while our movement for accountability for the Bush/Cheney White House just took a major leapforward with the testimony of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, we also unfortunately took a terrible step backwards with the tragic approval of new FISA legislation. I voted against this awful FISA law that degrades the privacy guarantees of our Constitution.

McClellan’s Testimony

What we heard from Mr. McClellan was confirmation under oath of what we have long suspected: the President, Vice President, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and others purposefully conspired to mislead Americans for political gain and at the cost of the lives of our soldiers, the security of our nation, and the sanctity of our Constitution.

Today, Scott McClellan said that he considers it a likely possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney was the person who authorized the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert status. Mr. McClellan also said that he believes more White House officials should come before Congress and reveal the truth about this Administration’s actions.

McClellan’s testimony underscores a simple reality:

We must dig deeper. As I said today in the Judiciary Committee hearing, the facts we know now are more than enough to justify impeachment hearings for President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. You can read my entire testimony today below.

There is no higher agenda than protecting the Constitution. The Separation of Powers principle is being threatened, our Civil Rights are under attack, and must pursue accountability no matter what the political cost.

The FISA Vote

Today I voted against the so-called FISA “compromise” bill, as the only thing that is really being compromised is our civil rights.

In spite of the earnest, hard work of many Members of Congress, the President has continued to demand that Congress rubber-stamp his illegal wiretapping program.

Every American wants to protect our country from terrorists; but the President is not asking for tools to thwart terrorists. He is demanding unchecked power. He expects the Congress to throw out even the most modest, expedited court review on the absurd premise that a specially designed court with over 30 years of experience handling surveillance requests is suddenly going to bring our nation’s intelligence operations to a standstill.

The rights of everyday Americans are at issue here, and full accountability needed. A court that is given full and appropriate review of the particular circumstances in each case is the only appropriate venue for making decisions about immunity for actions that may or may not have violated the civil liberties of some individuals.

In addition, while I am sympathetic to the difficult position telephone and Internet service providers, who may have thought they were doing their patriotic duty, the fact remains that I simply cannot support offeringretroactive immunity. I have had the opportunity to view some of the documents in question, and I can say that my position on this subject is unchanged.

I will continue to support the March 14th House bill that preserves the appropriate court review of all surveillance of US citizens and gives judges the discretion to review all the necessary documents related to telecom lawsuits without offering blanket immunity.

Who is going to be governor of Alabama in 2010? I guess it will have to be Don Siegelman, again!

Tags: Alabama Politics

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Alabama Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.