MSNBC’s morning host Alex Witt brought on Col. Jack Jacobs on Friday to discuss the FISA debate and served up White House talking points very nicely. (h/t Bob F)
JACOBS: There are something like 30 or 40 pending lawsuits already against the telecommunications industry, internet service providers and so on for cooperating with the government and um, violating their privacy. They’re not going to participate any more—the telecommunications industry with the government if they can’t be protected and so Mukasey’s saying there are conversations we could have listened to, information we could have received, but we didn’t get it because nobody’s cooperating.
WITT: So does this mean the terrorists, who were certainly aware of this situation right now, that they got this open window and they’re able to communicate?
JACOBS: They do indeed. They do, indeed. And there are other ways they can take advantage of this situation too, not just this law. But this is a big stumbling block in getting information, which we can use to protect ourselves. It’s a big fight and it will continue and this is an election year, don’t forget, so it’s got partisan overtones you’ll continue to hear about.
Are you flipping kidding me? The amount of fearmongering and misinformation is sickening. Let’s be clear: the telecoms want to be immunized from prosecution from violating the privacy of AMERICANS. Not terrorists. Do you really think that al Qaeda will instruct one of their minions walk into court and file suit against AT&T? How stupid do they think the American people are? Wait, don’t answer that.
The ACLU has issued a press release scolding the White House for playing politics with the domestic surveillance bill.
No Trackbacks To “MSNBC’s Alex Witt and Col. Jack Jacobs Push For Telecom Amnesty“
Personally, I blame RedState.com, Heritage.org, and all the other right-wing sites that put those FISA expiration clocks on their websites, alerting all the terrorists to the expiration of the PAA.
If they hadn’t had huge banners announcing a so-called lapse in intelligence gathering for all the world’s terrorists to see, then…well, you know how it goes.
Telecom immunity? That’s just something else domestically that needs to be worked on.
BUT ALERTING ALL THE TERRORISTS TO THE EXPIRATION OF THE PAA??!! WHY DOES REDSTATE HATE AMERICA AND LOVE TERRORISTS!!??
[/snark]
C’mon Nicole, you aren’t surprised, now are you, that someone like Alex Witt or Col. Jack Jacobs would support this telecom immunity bill?
Of course you are not surprised. That is the job of the MSNBC network to support such anti-constitutional measures.
The Telecoms have PLENTY of protection from unwarrented lawsuits. It’s called DUE PROCESS. No one I know of is pointing this out. If they have a good excuse in that they wiretapped at the behest of the government and for good reason, as Bush says, a jury will find them not guilty. What concerns Bush, therefore, is that immunity be passed so that no one knows what the hell they’ve been doing under guise of law.
Sorry. The last line should say “what the hell the Administration has been doing under guise of law.”
“We take your privacy seriously, and to better protect and serve you etc, etc.”
Your friendly telecommunications company.
Right Gloria, there’s no prosecution without evidence, that being the case in many matters of this administration.
Its very hard for the “terrorists” to communicate when the underseas communications and internet cables in the Middle East regions are “mysteriously” severed by “accident.”
White House Right Wing talking points versus the Super Intellect-Intuition
No contest. You would think they would have figured that out by now.
Obviously not.
Cheney release those Secret Energy Meeting Docs yet?
What a bunch of crap. These two dolts sound like the Canadian military leader (Hillier) that says “terrists is watchin’ our media and reading our blogs and emails”…….somewhere in the world, two more villages are missing their idiots
You would think the Telecoms would have at least the basic decency to notify Law Abiding Citizens they were listening in on and offer an apology for the inconvenience and misunderstanding wouldn’t you?
Whats so difficult about that?
Oh please! The fix was in a long time ago. No matter what congress does, the Chimpanzee-in-chief is going to pardon all the telecoms before next January anyway. There is going to be a lot more looting of this country before this administration is over. Let’s just try to get through this year before those idiots destroy everything. Besides, even if the telcoms don’t get immunity and they get sued, the customers will be the ones who will have to pay for it. Just like Enron, and the sub primes and everything else. We are going to get stuck with the bill.
L.A. Confidential @ 11:
Whats so difficult about it is they might come across some LAW ABIDING Citizen with integrity who’s not afraid of these people and might say . .
Oh? And just what information is it you gathered on me. Do you want to tell me who received this information about my private life? Or do I have to take you to court to get the answer?
Right-Wing Supports Amnesty for ‘Illegals,’ as Long as They Spy on Americans
No Telecom Immunity
No Corporate Hackery
No More Spying On Americans to “make us safer” BS
Please, Write Your Representative
It is not really how stupid the public is. It is how stupid the democratic party is for caving time and time again. If the democratic party stood up more the conservative media could not get away with their lies.
Alex Witt and Jack Jaccobs, I want to know if your really scared shitless over this bullshit being propagated by the GOPig fear mongers. I guess you don’t believe the most trusted journalist on MSNBC, your own Keith Olbermann when he lays out to a fine point all reasons to not be afraid of these fear tactics. Don’t you watch his show on your own network?
cheflovesbeer @ 16:
Wouldn’t surprise me if the Dems see this thing as a tool they can use to weed out their political enemies also if they get in in 09 at this point.
A much stronger counter-argument that Greenwald pointed out a few weeks ago: telecom companies are already required to comply with all legal requests by the government. If the government asks them to do something, all they have to do is show the request is legal.
Gawd, I loathe supposed news casters.
So Alex Wittless has decided on the merits of this issue already. Those big bad Democrats are making America less safe because they insist on the rule of law. If Bush wants to engage in wholesale wiretapping, what is wrong with getting a warrant from a secret FISA judge? That too would protect the telephone companies. No one has demonstrated that this illegal activity has netted one terrorist - or stopped one terrorist plot. Where’s Osama? Why can all his new recruits find him without the benefit of wiretapping and we can’t - with the benefit of illegal wiretapping?
As a “serious” journalist, Witt decided that her next story was about Britney Spears’ dopey antics. I’m curious, to what demographic was she appealing with a sequence like that? I’m curious about another thing: what was the story after Britney?
Privacy went out the window with cordless telephones. Anybody with a police scanner can listen in to any phone conversation on any cordless phone. My neighbor demonstrated that for me last week.
Nicole Nicole Nicole…
You’re usually pretty bright and not so reactionary…but your logic doesn’t add up on this one…
Look I’m not saying I agree with the talking points being propagated here…but they’re not saying that the reason Telecoms want immunity is because they’re worried about being sued by terrorists…their argument (which again, I don’t agree with) is that the Telecoms want immunity because they don’t want to be sued by anyone…and because without immunity yes americans would rightly be able to sue them…and for that reason they wont participate in the govt’s eavesdropping…and so because they are not participating right now, the argument goes that RIGHT NOW, because they’re not participating (assuming we should believe them on this) americans and terrorists alike are able to communicate without fear of being listened to…
so bottom line: they’re not saying telecoms are worried about being sued by terrorists, they’re saying the telecoms are worried about being sued period. That worry has stopped them from participating in the govts eavesdropping which opens the door to unfettered communication among terrorists. As a matter of logic, yes, they’re argument holds water. As a matter of what is best for democracy and the maintenance of democracy…no their argument does not hold water. Eavesdropping on Americans obviously threatens democracy and could ulimately lead to our undoing. It certainly undermines the very principals on which we stand–a country that spies on its own citizens is no longer a true democracy and perhaps is no longer worth defending or protecting…for why would we defend totalitarianism in any form?
So what is it every Law Abiding American has to get CIA Security Clearance to have some basic peace of mind anymore in this country?
not misinformation, DISinformation. Alex Witt is MSNBC’s answer to Ingraham/Coulter/Fitzpatrick… her bias is as obvious as her hair extensions.
And on Nader, since that thread’s old as the Pleistocene in the blogosphere’s warp speed, he is the Harold Stassen of the 21st Century.
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
You want to tap a line?
Then get a FUCKING WARRANT!!!
Contrary to the current wisdom, some person trying to set up an attack here is certainly NOT going to presume that he or she is now immune from our government’s surveillance.
If the feds are after someone, FISA will give them their warrant. If they have no specific target, then that’s just an admission that they are vacuum cleaning the system, which is blatantly illegal. None of their arguements hold even a drop of water. It’s astounding that the sheeple have come to accept the term “warrantless wiretaps” as a normal part of our lexicon. That term should only be found on arrest warrants. But now it’s “Oh, OK. I guess so.”
Yet, in a way, the people who are suing the telecomms are performing a vital patriotic act. They have put some fear into the telecomms, who are now dictating some different terms to the criminals running this fascist program.
Hmm, how much ad revenue do you reckon these telecom companies might generate across all GE’s channels (including MSNBC)?
And how many deals does GE have with telecom companies to bundle its products?
And how much money is GE making from military contracts?
All these questions might lead to the most obvious question: Shouldn’t a disclaimer be run to make viewers aware of these obvious conflicts of interest?
The TelCom industry won’t cooperate and thereby puts the survival of our nation at risk? Take the corporate officials of each of the companies to GITMO and waterboard the hell out of them until they agree to cooperate. I’m tired of screwing around with people
who hate freedom. Let’s kick some corporate butt!
All I can say to George Bush is that “you go with the surveillance you have, not the surveillance that you want to have.”
As for privacy, I supposed anyone can peek into the windows of their neighbor, but at least nobody is getting paid to do so. I they get caught there would be consequences. I don’t want my tax dollar go toward paid intrusion of my privacy. The telecom now realize that there will be consequences if they continue to spy on Americans. It is the Govt that are not cooperating with FISA in spying procedures. Not all telecom corporation violated the law.
Notice how Witt didn’t even bother with the ” Devils Advocate ” position or what they usually say ,when they wanna go after somebody ” some people say ” . Hell with that, we’re going straight to supporting spying on the American Citizens , besides NBC ignored this issue for the longest , as well as never having Klein on to discuss what he found at At&T , the spy network , incorporated into their system , to spy on American Citizens .
NBC has spent more time on Britney Spears in ONE DAY , then the illegal spying all year . Only when Bush’s despicable Amnesty for LAW BREAKERS needed a push by the media , did the raise the issue again .
And this war pimp Col. jacobs , who pimped the invasion of Iraq knows damn we’ll there are hundreds of ways for the ” enemy ” to communicate, and use your common sense , how many Al Qaeda guys are calling the United States anyway , HUGH ? 1 , 1000. Hell there’s such a thing as U.S. POSTAL Service , how ya going to stop that ?
Mussolini said it correctly , “corporatism is blending of state and corporate power ” and NBC’s lack of balance and outright support of illegal spying is obscene and an insult to Americans .
Those terrarists won’t have to use soup cans anymore!
Doesn’t this bumpkin of an interviewer do any reading on her own? What one sided bull shit again from MSM.
You would expect this on pravda network, but I’m always disappointed when the MSM puts some novice face up there to let the administration bloviate their talking points about how they can’t do anything to gather intelligence because the Congress won’t cooperate.
I thought they COULD wire tap, with court orders?? Come on America, wake the f*ck up to this nonsense.
This bitch needs to be canned. What an imbicile.
Alex Witt — proving that peroxide can do terrible things to a gal’s brain.
Kahoneez @ 31:
What you expect from a person who’s wealthy and influential parents crammed her through the “prestigious” Marlborough School for Girls in Los Angeles?
A maverick?
Let me tell you what the authoritarians hate most. Intelligent Law Abiding Citizens with Integrity who call them on their bullshit.
Thats what really gets to them.
Bamboozled, good points.
I read somewhere where the phone companies get $1000 for each tap. That means that if the government taps a million lines, AT&T nets a cool billion! What a deal!
If you’ll recall, QUEST told the spooks that if they wanted to tap peoples phones on their system, they’d need a warrant.
Don’t kid yourself, though, lawsuits or not, this is VERY profitable for the phone companies and there is plenty of incentive to keep going. I think that the government is just worried that the civil actions (lawsuits) would force the government to expose their illegal activities.
“They’re not going to participate any more—the telecommunications industry with the government if they can’t be protected”
That’s a big lie. Cooperation can be mandated as it was when Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). What is being sought here is authority to operate outside the law.
So, the question here is, do we want surveillance conducted within the law, or unlawfully. The argument being presented is that immunity should be granted so that telecommunication companies will continue to operate outside the law.
Alex Witt — proving that peroxide can do terrible things to a gal’s brain.
A USC gal.
NoBuddy @ 38:
Anyone who would answer that with unlawfully needs a mental examination.
Speaking of Alex Witt the twit, ever notice her Queen-of-England inflections/pronunciations? Headlines is headloins, not becomes naught…give me a break Alex, you’re reciting the news and doing interviews, not addressing Parliament!
Richard Clarke: “Let me be clear: Our ability to track and monitor terrorists overseas would not cease should the Protect America Act expire. If this were true, the president would not threaten to terminate any temporary extension with his veto pen. All surveillance currently occurring would continue even after legislative provisions lapsed because authorizations issued under the act are in effect up to a full year.”
What is with this “open window” bullshit? It needs to be made perfectly clear that this isn’t some ticking time bomb situation.
Tom @ 39:
Rich Kid who’s idea of hard times is a split fingernail or having to cancel a tooth whitening appointment.
They’ll get what they want, eventually.
That’s America. Big business rules.
If the telecom immunity goes through, I will seriously consider voting for Ralph Nader.
The Democrats certainly aren’t doing anything to protect my privacy.
NoBuddy @ 38:
NoBuddy -
Good point. They’re required to answer warrants whether they feel like or it or not.
MSNBC is feeding the public garbage.
Ryan @ 15:
It’s past the ‘write your Representative’ stage.
If you want to have any impact at all, write Chairmen Reyes, Conyers, and Leahy and add your email to their stack.
CalGeorge @ 44:
Right then in Nov after he gets 03% of the Vote you’ll what then?
ok bush you want telecom immunity, then………….
after you have made public ALL that you have declared
executive privilege since the beginning of your administration
then and only then will we consider telecom immunity……
fair enough?………….i didn’t think so
so you can go fuck yourself with your own hand or
continue to use cheney’s hand up your butt.
L.A. Confidential @ 47:
I will salute my fellow alienated Naderites and go back to swallowing the crap that the two parties dish out everyday i