"Strained and Unrealistic"
That's what Arlen Specter calls Gonzales' legal justifications for the President breaking the law. The Senate hearings kick off today:
Gonzales called the monitoring program “reasonable” and “lawful.” He lashed out at the news media for stories he called often “misinformed, confused or wrong.”
“As the president has explained, the terrorist surveillance program operated by the (electronic-monitoring National Security Agency) requires the maximum in speed and agility, since even a very short delay may make the difference between success and failure in preventing the next attack.”
There is no delay with FISA; you can get approval up to 72 hours after the fact. But it's become increasingly clear that this Executive Branch just doesn't want to do its job at all-- witness the complaint that going before judges or getting warrants, even after the fact, is "cumbersome."
Sigh.
Specter: Defying Logic
I liked the clarity in Specter's closing statement about Gonzales' explanation for the legality of warrantless surveillance: "It defies logic."
It's promising that a Republican is starting to experience the absurd Orwellian nightmare that Bush and his cabal have created.