Countdown: Bush Used Bogus Terror Threat To Scare Votes For FISA Bill
By Logan Murphy Monday Sep 24, 2007 8:38am
Keith Olbermann has been tracking the Bush Administration's use of trumped up terror alerts to manipulate the American people for the past two years, but in this latest Nexus of Politics & Terror report on Countdown, it appears the president stooped to a new low by using a bogus terror threat that specifically targeted Capitol Hill to manipulate members of Congress just hours before a crucial vote on the FISA bill last August.
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According to Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Terrorism Risk Assessment, the Bush administration knowingly used bogus intelligence to make lawmakers believe there was the chance of an imminent attack on the U.S. Capitol, thus frightening them into passing the temporary expansion of his powers to spy on Americans under the FISA act. Keith talks with former Reagan administration official and chairman of the American Freedom Agenda Bruce Fein, who has called for the impeachment of both Dick Cheney and George Bush about Bush's unconstitutional power grabs and how the Democrats can exert their powers as a co-equal branch of government by refusing to fund any spending mandated in future FISA bills.
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C&L rules!
Isn't that like filing a phony police report?
Sounds impeachable to me.
Proof positive that Miss Nancy and 'Gutless' Reid along with every coward that gave Herr Bush what he wanted on the FISA bill are just plain unfit to lead.
Here's a picture of your typical scared shitless 'Bush Dog'
The idea that we are being 'governed' by such patheticly stupid and weak people makes me physically ill.
Throw these idiots out!
Good for Harman for speaking up. I wish this kind of shit made me ask, is this true? Sadly it doesn't and sadly it is true. They'll stop at nothing. Are we sure Rove is really gone?
Bush will speak at the UN shortly if you can stomach watching it.
How frickin' gullible are the Dems?
"Omigod! The terrorists are coming! Well, don't just stand there -- tap my phone!!"
It's amazing to me that the democratic leadership keeps falling for this crap. I am just as disgusted with them as I am the bush administration for pulling this kind of crap AGAIN! It's no longer good enough for the democratic leaders to cry about it after they come back from vacation ,they should be asking the tough questions and investigating before signing away our rights and privacy to the bush administration.SHAMEFUL !
pissed off patricia @ 4:
OK, that's it. Let's cut UN funding.
I think it's pretty clear that saying Big Bad Bushie" scared wittle ole us wif a scarey story 'bout terror" just doesn't impress people. We need leaders, not spineless wimps.
Sad thing is, the Demos will likely cave when the question of immunity for the telcos comes up. It's like they're afraid of being the majority.
I think if the dems ever decided to wield the 'power' they supposedly have most of them would find themselves or their family members in detention at a secure location for whatever bogus reason the shrub co. shock troops could come up with. They'd be there for "good" reasons of course and would be released as soon as the remaining dems agreed to repug "reason".
Better yet, Joementum, let's cut bush's funding and not pay him until he does as we tell him to do. We do pay his salary, ya know. :)
The FISA laws did not need to be changed and power did not need to be expanded. I thought we voted in intelligent, reasonable people who reviewed the facts on a issue before voting.
But then, so many voters don't. i suppose i shouldn't expect the people they're voting for to do so, either.
File this under weird. Someone in Rudy's campaign is trying to start a fund raiser where everyone donates nine dollars and eleven cents. Is that jumping the 9-11 shark yet?
I cannot believe that congress fell for a false terrorist attack scare, none of us would. Does that mean we are braver than congress? Looks like it.
Gee, wouldn't it be nice if they finally got their wish and every single rethuglican neocon, their lackeys and their fundie butt buddies would just get raptured? Imagine how nice the world would be then.
pissed off patricia @ 11:
At this point I'd pay him whatever he wants just to go away. Let him take the golden parachute right outta Air Force One, if that'll make him feel better.
My favorite time -- Mumbles tries to read the teleprompter
Geez, we in the netroots knew this was almost certainly the case with the FISA scare, but the groveling dimwitted Dems in congress fell for it hook, line and sinker. We should send all of our "representatives" a big sucker.
Malaria? Chimp OKs the killing of 100's of thousands of civilians, and sends millions more to refugee camps, but now shows false concern about what havoc the evil Mosquito has done. Stupid chimp
Everyday I have to read more of this BULLSHIT. I can't TAKE IT ANY MORE. When is somebody going to do something. What is it going to take to burn this mother down. We need to be in the streets people.
Clap? don't clap! Damn, they clapped! What was needed was a cream pie.
The Carpenter @ 19:
When the tv stops working and the malls close. That's when people are going to start looking around wondering who to blame and I'm sure the repugs will have a convenient scape goat all picked out.
Did I see one delegation get up and walk out while the chimp was slurring his words? If so, which country was it?
The Carpenter @ 19:
It's to late. That should have happened in Nov-Dec 2000.
the Bush administration knowingly used bogus intelligence to make lawmakers believe there was the chance of an imminent attack on the U.S. Capitol, thus frightening them into passing the temporary expansion of his powers to spy on Americans under the FISA act
Isn't "making a terroristic threat" a felony now?
I had to stop watching when Shrub started talking about ignorance!
Damnit, it's "The Democratic Congress" not "The Democrat Congress." How many times do we have to remind them of this?
It continues... a new "low" every single day. It's all coming apart for the Bushies. And just imagine what they have done, that we haven't even found out about yet.
the junta will do anything to get their Stasi legislation passed. Chertoff can go to Hell
Just reinforces the fact: Democrats = wimps
They quickly showed persons leaving while Chimp was mispronouncing on the podium, but they never commented on it, at least not on ABC. Surprise Surprise!
I have said this before, our country has been taken over by the banksters, the neo cons will soon turn on us and take away all your money, JFK warned us about secret societies and Twight Eisenhower warned us about Military industrial complex, so we can only assume they are working together to end civilization as we know it. Keep faith my friends.
Come Keith O', just say it on TV.
"You have the Right, and duty to throw off such government"
Terrorism.
Republican Terrorism.
Intimidation.
Obfuscation.
Subversion.
Perversion.
The Nerve, son.
One of Chertoff's head honchos is stepping down. Wonder if he'll write a book confessing his sins?
Bush was talking about Cuba when that group left and he was saying the regime there would soon come to an end. Probably referring to Castro's age and eventual death. Maybe it was the Cuban delegation who walked out.
The Republicans or whatever they are can win in 08.
Don't kid yourself.
I smell sulfur!
Dean @ 29:
Good point. They can't even complain about it without admitting that Bush turned them all into bedwetters (again). They'll all claim they were going to courageously vote for it anyway. Ugh.
Dean @ 29:
i'm sorry but that dog won't hunt. these guys are not wimps, their just complicit. it's not thier role to challenge the white house, their role is to be a good lap dog, protect the rich, corporate american entities, and then capitalize when they assume power.
stop making excuses for the democrats and hold them accountable.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 26:
My conservative friends like to say 'democrat party.' I usually grin delightedly, and point out that if we get to make up our own names for the other party, that they support the "Hypocritical Repressed Nasty Naughty Dirty little boy reaction formation Party." Once they realize that I really *can* say that every, single, time ... they usually cave.
MSNBC wants us to submit questions. Ha! Careful what you ask for. I'm sure we can think up some good ones. First I am going to ask how they keep a straight face when bush says things like "Human Rights" or "ignorance" or "freedom". Lets get some REAL questions out there. Lets ask them to justify bush's use of terror to get what he wants. How do they stop themselves from laughing out loud when bush bashes the dems for spending too much when HE has run up a debt of 9 trillion? I have seen the intelligence on this blog. I know you have good questions. Lets see how many get aired.
Do you remember the Athrax, which was proven to come from a US military base, that was sent to Democrats to help push the Patriot Act?
I wonder what they will come up with to get everyone behind an attack on Iran?
...hmmmmmm...I wonder.
I think this deserves a "Post of the Day Award"
Yeah...I know the day has just started and I am somewhat of a dictator in handing out my 'Post of the Day Awards" since there is no voting on it. :P
I remember Hagel and Co. with the fake chemical alert that trapped them in a room in early 2006. He was look step after that....
yenehC hcaepmI @ 42:
Oh yeah...the Anthrax attacks...the MSM is really on top of that story aren't they? The gov't investigation into those acts reminds me of OJ searching for the "real killers".
This country is SO pathetic.
yenehC hcaepmI @ 42:
Probably deliberately nuke some city... one that's large enough to kill a significant amount of people, but kind of isolated that it won't cause a huge mess... I'm thinking something like Fargo, ND or Eugene, OR.
I wouldn't put it past these assholes to kill tens of thousands of our own civilians to further their agenda.
Magna Carta Is Going on the Auction Block
By JAMES BARRON
The only copy of the Magna Carta, the document that laid the foundation for fundamental principles of English law, in the United States is about to go on sale.
What will it take for us to collectively say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Wasn't this about the time when the bogus stories about the terrorist trying dry runs at airports surfaced. One of those terrorists turned out to be that nice lady in San Diego:
CNN Newsroom July 28, 2007
SARA WEISS, AIRPORT PASSENGER: I'm not a terrorist. I'm a 66- year-old woman with a bad back. I was on vacation going to visit my son in San Diego.
TODD: Sarah Weiss says the ice packs she carried, like these, had clay inside them because they were old and that's the way they were made. Weiss was held for three hours, questioned by San Diego harbor police and two men who she said were in plain clothes and didn't identify themselves. She says one question, from a San Diego harbor policeman, shocked her.
Bush has been creating bogus terror since his first inauguration to further the neocon plan to destroy America. But since the Democratic Party has taken control of both houses, and nothing has changed, this bullshit is now Congress's fault. I place all the blame on Nancy Pelosi for her dereliction that this continues, and upon Harry Reid for his utter gutlessness. Bush and Cheney must be impeached, and Pelosi is obstructing justice by not allowing that to happen.
I am also profoundly disappointed with Democratic senators like Webb, and Feinstein for their vote on FISA, which committed but another act of rape upon the Constitution while doing nothing to protect us from threats to security - all of which to my eyes have been imaginary to this point. Webb has already lost my vote in the next election.
Did Charlie Brown ever catch on to Lucy's football trick?
I don't understand why Democrats and reporters have taken leave of their senses by failing to critically think and analyze what this administration says. How can anyone believe anything these Bushies say? Why don't people take what they say and see if it really is true? I think 9/11 scared a lot of people sh**less and here they are, six years later, still eager to do anything and follow anything Daddy Bush and Daddy Cheney say, as long as they will stay safe. Never mind that little or NONE of it seems to be true!!!
As for the San Diego lady with a bad back, I have found when traveling with disabled people that authorities take more time screening them than able-bodied folks. Part of it is, they can't walk through the magnetometer. Part of it is that maybe they think these people can smuggle explosives through their wheelchairs and canes. But whatever, it seems so insulting to real people with real physical problems to make them endure these lengthy screenings when our harbors are still largely unprotected.
What I can't figure out is why senators and congressmen keep falling for this president's manipulative lies. I just don't get it. I can see what he's doing. I've been right all along about him the moment he was handed the election. Are the Democrats just plain dumb? I mean, I know the Republicans are much more politically saavy than the Dems. That's a given. I just thought "good" commonsense prevailed in the Democratic party and I'm starting to realize that even though I'd like the Dems to take all branches of government I now believe they lack the good common sense to do so. Here are the keys to this argument.
-It didn't take a rocket scientist to believe that 9/11 wasn't powered by Hussein
-that Colin Powell was lying was clearly evident in his assessment to the UN
-How anyone can believe that the Republicans are better at national security is perplexing.
-Didn't 9/11 happen on this president's watch?
-Didn't this administration in making the case to go to war say that Iraq was swimiming in WMD?
-Wasn't he wrong about WMD?
-Wasn't the Iraq conflice supposed to be a cakewalk?
-Didn't this administration give away the identity of a valued asset of our intelligence?
-We heard Iraq wasn't about oil and then came retired Allan Greenspan
-Katrina?
-80 percent of the country says we should set a deadline to get out of this war
-violence in Iraq hasn't gone down as the general noted, it's gone Up. He's playiing with numbers
-when you fight forming a commission to find out what really happened on 9/11 (we yet we still don't know the entire truth) then that always means someone somewhere has something to hide.
(Let me get this out. I think both parties have let this country down. The media has been complicit in helping to continue perpetuating the lies this administration tells. But the Dems don't get a pass here. They can be just as corrupt as the Republicans if given the time)
But what I really want to know is, if the Republicans have been misleading on everything, have been wrong about everything, have been lying about everything, want this war to continue without end then why do the Dems keeping falling for the same old dirty political tricks? They fell into another trip when the Republicans wanted a non-binding resolution about a Move-On ad. The Dems voted on it as if they don't have enough on their plate. They know that Petreaus was a mouthpiece for the administration but the Dems go along with this stupid show anyway. Hence the question... Are the Democrats just plain dumb? Everyone talks smart and they were smart enough to use ending the war as the issue to get elected but in continuing to fall down one whole after another makes me wonder something far more disturbing. The congress has a very low approval rating not solely becasue they can't shake the president from his stubborn stance but really it's because I think the Democrats are just plain dumb.
AntiFed1791 @ 48:
Dixie Chicks did that and everyone applauded from a safe distance.
yenehC hcaepmI @ 42:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBH1aJOH5A
earl @ 51:
You don't remember when Charlie bitch-slapped her?
It made all the papers.
michael @ 39:
Right on the money... the Democrats are simply the other side of the same coin. They are as responsible for the mess we are in as the Republicans. I don't know whether we have a mechanism in place to effect real change... the system is very well crafted for its intended purpose of protecting wealth.
pissed off patricia @ 4:
I am not even sure if Rumsfield is gone, as far as I think that they may all be together setting up a new coup detat when they bring back all the Blackwater unit after they weaken our army to the limits in Iraq. They have done a great job dismantling this govt, it would be easy to have it take over for awhile, but in the long run they wont succeed.
I am afraid that this administration have done such a great job to make us afraid of everything that we are even afraid of freedom.
Paul @ 50:
Here is the list of suckers in the senate:
Dianne Feinstein, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Barbara Mikulski
Jim Webb, Jon Tester, Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Kent Conrad, Dan Inouye, Bill Nelson, Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar
How about we send them all suckers in the mail?
Otay @ 59:
Come to think of it, let's just take them back and ensconce them safely away from positions of power.
Thanks for giving us the names of the Dumb bunnies in Washington. I am disappointed in Webb and McCaskil and Feinstein. Doesn't she still support Lieberman? Maybe they like spying on Americans too.
All time low approval ratings for Congress. We are in dangerous waters here.
If someone doesn't start turning this around immediately, there will be revolt. I hope it will be peaceful but, there is no guarantee with these things.
http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob1.htm
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28456
Otay @ 59:
I'd rather send them their pink slips. They are either to gullible, too stupid or too corrupt to deserve their seats.
Fascism is real.
Bush's "bogus terror threat that specifically targeted Capitol Hill to manipulate members of Congress just hours before a crucial vote on the FISA bill last August . . ."
And Congress bought it hook, line and sinker!
They could have taken this threat in many directions in order to stall the vote until they researched it! That would have been the intelligent thing to do. Retardates, one and all.
I'm sick at heart.
Ha! The terrorists are too smart. They know if they really want to hurt this country, they'll leave Washington, DC intact.
It's sad that I find reading all these comments so comforting - the comfort of like minds, I suppose. We sure are in a heap o' trouble...
What I really wonder is if the Dems are as blind and spineless as we suspect or does this administration wield even more power than we realize?
And again I repeat my mantra, MAY BUSH ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY.
I notice that she had Peter Hoekstra standing behind her. Maybe he is ready to step off of that run away train he is on.
let me get this straight... Bush used fear of terrorism to pay off his Visa bill?
Doesn't that make the Bush administration terrorists?
AntiFed1791 @ 62:
You'd think that would be the case, but no.
It's like watching someone rob a house with the owners still in it. As long as they don't unplug the TV, they can cart off anything they want.
hmm lets see here. The use of fear to advance a policy or ideology. hmmm Isn't that terrorism?
steambomb @ 72:
Yes!
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
ter·ror·ism /ˈtɛrəˌrɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ter-uh-riz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Origin: 1785–95; terror + -ism]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
President used false information to get Congress to act? Shocked!
SHOCKING!!!
Nothing this man does is impeachable, which is the truly frightening state-of-affairs in the United States. Can a dictatorship be far behind?
Bush is a threat to human rights everywhere.
It seems to me that only the rest of the world, all other countries, can stop him. Congress is not willing to do so.
Lets see here.... hmmm. 1. Americans are forced to remain in an occupation of a foreign country even though a huge majority dont agree with that. 2. Americans are spyed on in contravention of our own constitution. 3. An American president writes little side notes onto bills stating that his branch of government doesn't have to follow the law. Is America under occupation?
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3039345&C=america
Along with that surveilance comes a new domestic police force!
KO to the American public: Hello, is this thing on? Is there anybody out there???
pissed off patricia @ 13:
If the so-called MSM ever covered all the disgusting ways Rudy uses 9/11, the shark would've jumped on ''his'' 9/11 a long time ago. They're too busy with OJ, Britney & ''that traitorous ad.''
What's Harman going to do with this discovery? Anything besides that presser which, as far as I know, was only mentioned on Countdown? Only KO keeps track of the way Chimpie & Darth use fear-mongering. Whatever happened to the lethal anthrax attack at NBC? That was real yet what happened to investigating & solving it? It wasn't manufactured by Chimpie so it's no big deal? Couldn't be used to put FEAR into everyone just before an election?
The really cool thing about this is that BUSH DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' LAW TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT HE WANTS TO DO. Congress is impotent and I'm REALLY getting tired of paying their salaries if they have no place in our new government. So, it's a moot point, Keith. Signing the bill was only a formality to show the country who's really in charge. And, by God, it showed me. Bush is in charge. Not congress, not the courts, not the people, Bush alone. How comforting.
And any of this is surprising, why?
Why are law enforcement agencies not breaking down the doors of the WH at this very moment?
Charles @ 83:
boosh is armed and loaded
With spitballs and Jack Daniels.
Joementum @ 71:
This is what I've been saying since 2000.
see you bush cur demopublicans, he lied to you. AGAIN. you believed him AGAIN. no proof AGAIN.
gaddamn you stupid cowardly self serving ass kissing --- oooooo.
you know if a republican had won my district i would understand why he voted poops when george says poop, but to have hope that we had a voice.
right now i'm hating ben chandler (R/D Ky) and jim webb (R/D) Va. and alllll the rest of the weasels wearing rat's clothing--i hate them more right now than george the second.
sorry to sound a little incoherent, you should have seen the first draft
paranoia @ message 58
"I am afraid that this administration have done such a great job to make us afraid of everything that we are even afraid of freedom."
if you are afraid of freedom than you don't deserve it.....didn't Ben F said something similar?
The Bush administration always say you must fight for freedom, and at least on this they are correct. But not behind the keyboard, get involved to protect it.
I ain't shocked by this at all. Bush and Co. have a history of making up fake threats to get what they want (IRAQ?!?!). Impeachment, anybody?!?!
Ya know, I wonder how Bush goes to sleep at night.....hmmmm.....
*snore*I LOVE TERRORIZING MY PEOPLE*snore*I HATE THE CONSTITUTION*snore*I AM THE RULER OF THIS COUNTRY*snore*FUCK CHECKS AND BALANCES*snore*CONGRESS HAS NO SAY IN ANYTHING*snore*EXCEPT IF THEIR REPUBLICANS*snore*AND IF THEIR DEMOCRATS THEY DON'T MATTER*snore*BECAUSE I CAN SCARE THEM TO GET WHATEVER I WANT*snore*
Sounds about right.
The Champ is out.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 26:
---------------------------------
you know at this point the stuff i call them is much worse than democrat...how about republicrat or demopublican? or chickenshit scardy cat poop in thier panties cowardly self serving ass hats who were outsmarted OUTSMARTED BY GEORGE 2.
Maybe the dems aren't dupes. Maybe they know the Black Opps & False Flag capabilities well enough to believe that the Capitol WOULD be attacked if legislators didn't follow orders. There is evidence that the Anthrax attacks were an inside job. It is one thing to be brave in the face of a possible attack by a foreign enemy, quite another to defy people who know who you are, and have Total Access to your office, communications, travel, home, family-- and unlimited power to carry out whatever they deem "necessary".
Bush says "BOO!" and they all run . . . .
Well, most of us suspected it didn't we? when they all turned tail and ran from DC for the recess so very fast.
Confirmed now is that they are the biggest bunch of lily-livered cowards and aren't worth anywhere near the money we pay them.
And what are we paying for? Someone to represent US and do the PEOPLE'S WORK . . .and what are we getting . . ?
See what I mean? there's a big divide here ~~
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