Good Question raised on radio, could the GOP have Tapped Kerry in '04?

[Up2Late]

I just heard a woman caller raise a good question on the NPR "Talk of the Nation" radio show: With the New York Times agreeing to "Sit" on the "Bush authorized Wire taps after 9/11" story "about a year ago" and the fact that that time period corresponds closely with the 2004 Election/Recounting period,

Who was Bush allowing the NSA to wire tap at that time?

Could the NSA, the GOP, the Bush Campaign, etc., have been tapping the Kerry Campaign, the DLC, Democratic strategists?

In other words, could it be that we had a 2004 "High Tech" version of Watergate during the 2004 Presidential Campaign or during the Recounts that followed it?

Link to the show:
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061589>

[babylonsister]

1. Would not surprise me in the least. If they could rig

the vote, why not spy on the competition?

[RobertSeattle]

27. It would be easy for them to rationalize

Remember Cheney saying either vote for Bush/Cheney or terrorists will strike? Ergo they had to spy on Kerry to prevent a terrorists strike...

[BOSSHOG]

2. Since they have transformed our country into bizarro world

it is incumbent upon them to prove the negative. Prove that they did not spy on Kerry. Excellent question. republicans and their supporters are ignorant monsters who are too lazy to enact and enable constitutional liberties. The path of least resistance is way too easy for that lot.

[welshTerrier2]

3. a "high tech" break-in of DNC headquarters ??

but, wouldn't that be, ya know, kinda illegal ???

besides, what if some of the terrorists were, ya know, in cahoots with some of those really liberal Democrats?? wouldn't ya want the President to, ya know, catch them??

now about that 18 1/2 minute gap in the WH recordings ... is it just possible that, ya know, it's all Clinton's fault ???

it seems to me that as soon as bush admitted to the illegal wiretapping, the burden of proof should be on him to prove it wasn't used in any way to benefit him or those who support him ... all documentation, regardless of form, must be made available to a Congressional inquiry ...

i wonder if bush will hold up a couple of peace signs and utter those immortal words: "i am not a crook!" ...

[second edition]

4. LOL n/t

[POAS]

5. Actually if memory serves

Nixon's intend was to emulate Churchill's V for victory and not the peace sign. Nixon was so out of touch that I doubt he even understood or knew of the then current usage of the raised fingers.

In shrubs case he probably would give the single finger salute and say, "Go Cheney yourself".

[welshTerrier2]

6. everything today is digital

it's getting harder and harder to know exactly what various finger gestures really mean ...

[POAS]

8. I'm sure that Bush

thinks it means he's number one!

[Up2Late]

9. LOL GWBush's analog version of "Digital Communication"

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_finger>

[welshTerrier2]

13. so the cop said to him ...

"Mr. President, you really shouldn't be driving in this condition ... i want you to close your eyes and then touch your index finger to your nose ..."

i suppose we could give him "partial credit" for this ...

[Inland]

7. Not if his private conversations as difficult to follow as his speeches.

They give up after an hour of transcription.

[Strawman]

19. lol

:spray:

Better get that "Beautiful Mind" dude on the job for that one.

All kidding aside, I have little doubt they'd try it. They think they rule by divine right as it is, so why would they care about the rules of the game?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

10. Remember when GOP had broken into Democratic files on a computer?

I don't recall details, it was prior to last November, not sure how much before.

[iconoclastNYC]

24. Break-Ins, Shootings Mar Bush-Kerry Race

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2004/story?id=201736&page=1

A Kerry campaign volunteer discovers evidence of an overnight break-in at Lucas County Democratic Party offices in Toledo, Ohio. Three computers are missing, including one that belonged to a lawyer employed by the Kerry campaign to prevent voter fraud. Police later probe a suspect with a lengthy criminal record. "We think the motivation was just a criminal theft," Toledo police Capt. Ron Spann says. "We don't think it was political at all. … We don't have any reason to think that."

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

26. I didn't know about that one. This was like some files of congressional

Democrats that the Republicans got into.

They are a full service criminal political party.

;)

[opihimoimoi]

11. Its a GIVEN....prolly had spies in all of the Dem Camps too

[blm]

31. They most certainly did. Some are even well known Dems, imo.

I really think some of the so-called Dem spokespeople acted like bumbling fools who were more knowledgeable about the menu at the Palms than about Kerry and the Dem platform and current issues.

Could it just be too fat and well paid or are they loathe to battle their "friends" on the right picking up the checks at dinner?

[travellin_kl]

12. Need to use encrypted phone calls or internet calls

Campaign strategists take note. Any land line or cell call can be tapped. You need to use encryption!

[newyawker99]

30. Hi travellin_kl!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[closeupready]

14. Fascinating question.

I don't see why not.

[Up2Late]

15. kick n/t

:kick:

[warrens]

16. Just keep asking that question

Whether they did or didn't, they're going to look guilty when they refuse to answer the question.

[Up2Late]

17. I think we ALL should send this question to every Democrat in Congress...

...who might have any opportunity to ask it in the future hearings.

[Up2Late]

18. kick n/t

:kick:

[kster]

K&R.nt

[kster]

20. K&R.nt

[FreedomAngel82]

21. It wouldn't surprise me

Why else would they go around the law and break it? They're spying on people who can do harm to them I'm sure. I wonder if they do people like Conyers, Boxer and Feingold too. :shrug:

[Lone_Wolf]

22. Without a doubt...

They wouldn't even give it a second thought.

[iconoclastNYC]

23. Swiftboating must have took months to prepare?

How did Rove know that Kerry would make his war record a centerpiece of his convention?

[ninkasi]

25. Because of the history of abuses

committed by Bush and the neocons, there is no vile act I would consider them incapable of. They have an unquenchable thirst for money and power, and their whole reason for existing is to consolidate these two things. Consider this...while they are pouring more and more money into keeping the war on Iraq going, our own neighbors, our Gulf Coast friends and relatives, are living in tents. Living in tents! Winter is here, the temperatures are falling, and families, thousands of them, have no homes.

Have we heard any more from Bush about this? No, he merely tells us that he will do whatever he wishes regarding the war on "terra", while he authorizes illegal wiretaps of American citizens, and he whines endlessly about "staying the course" in Iraq, and our Gulf Coast dies. These are the actions of a madman.

So, to ask whether the * administration might have wiretapped Kerry's campaign, or Democratic headquarters, is pointless. He probably has. He considers himself above the law, above we, the people, and above every other constraint that a rational person would feel. Impeachment and conviction are the only possible solutions to this. After we get rid of him, and his administration, this country needs to do a lot of soul searching, and get back on the track we have always seen ourselves on, the one that leads to justice and democracy for all.

[kenny blankenship]

28. I assume that electronic warfare against the Democratic Party is

large in scale and unrelenting. I doubt Democratic Party officials and leadership members on the Hill can exchange one word over the phone or by email without top members of the GOP becoming aware of what they say. Not just during campaign seasons but all the time..

But I doubt the GOP uses the NSA for any of this. I would scoff openly at the idea. Scoff! Scoff! There, I did it openly... And here's why: there are dozens of private companies willing and able to do the same work for free, and without even being asked to do it.

A large part of our occupation of Iraq is being carried out by private "muscle" contract killers. Companies of killers with addresses and corporate letterhead and tax ids and paid representation on K-street and Capitol Hill. Electronic warfare is just the same way and the companies involved know who their good friends are, politically, and by the same token they know who would oppose a privatized warfare state.

The Future of Fascism is a Public-Private Partnership for Globalized Gangsterism. What "security" or "electronic warfare" corporation wouldn't chip in and donate its services voluntarily to secure that future against the resurgent threat of Government For the People?

[MissWaverly]

29. look at Ohio

Who still won't tell us what they knew about Coingate and when they knew it. It has been
said that Gov. Taft knew before the election but didn't make the knowledge public. What
if they were bugging his phone and the phones of other prominent politicians in Ohio. They
could have put pressure them on to keep the scandal under wraps.