(Newsweek) Daschle: Cheney described surveillance program "like it was something routine."

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010707/site/newsweek/

Aug. 6, 2007 issue - Late on the afternoon of March 10, 2004, eight congressional leaders filed into the White House Situation Room for an urgent briefing on one of the Bush administration's top secrets: a classified surveillance program that involved monitoring Americans' e-mails and phone calls without court warrants. Vice President Dick Cheney did most of the briefing. But as he explained the National Security Agency program, the lawmakers weren't fully grasping the dimensions of what he was saying. Tom Daschle, then the Senate minority leader, tells NEWSWEEK that Cheney "talked like it was something routine. We really had no idea what it was all about." Still, as Daschle recalls, there were "a lot of concerns" expressed by some Democrats in the room when Cheney asked for their approval to continue the program. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then the House minority leader, recalls that she "made clear my disagreement with what the White House was asking."

Last week, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave a different account of the briefing, provoking yet another controversy in his tenure as the country's top law-enforcement officer. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales, who participated in the briefing as the White House counsel, said the legislators were told the deputy attorney general at the time, James Comey, had raised objections to the program. Gonzales said there was "consensus" that the program, aimed at catching terrorists, was needed. "The congressional leadership ... told us, 'Continue going forward with this very important intelligence activity'," Gonzales testified.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. "like it was something routine."

This is very important. I presided on a board at a H.O.A. where a great theft was about to take place, and the people who introduced the idea spoke as if "it was something routine." What do you do when your neighbors are so involved in graft, but it's so endemic in the community, that you're the only one in the room with a nervous tick?

I know how our Dem reps must have felt like in that room. They had nothing but their gut instincts to go by and only seconds to respond. There's a flaw here. People shouldn't be put in that position because it takes public support and solid evidence to overturn a conspiracy.

[lazer47]

2. Thats what the problem is,, it is routine.

[Frustratedlady]

3. The last paragraph is encouraging.

The birds are coming home to roost. Surely they knew employees would eventually spill the beans. When enough of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, we can sit back and examine the entire picture.

I can't wait.

[Harry Monroe]

4. For him it IS routine

Business as usual for Darth Vader.

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"

[Harry Monroe]

5. And therein lies the problem

"But as he explained the National Security Agency program, the lawmakers weren't fully grasping the dimensions of what he was saying. Tom Daschle, then the Senate minority leader, tells NEWSWEEK that Cheney "talked like it was something routine. We really had no idea what it was all about."

Our clueless and spineless Democratic leadership failing to stand up, instead claiming ignorance and/or cowardice. Expect to be trampled if Democrats continue to bend over and take it like a prison bitch. Cheney will continue ramming it up their collective asses.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. I disagree.

They couldn't have possibly predicted how evil and corrupt this administration was going to be. The Bush-Cheney team manipulated everything. Remember, Cheney is the King at getting the outcome he seeks, precisely because he knows how to tell you only the facts that will corral you into a "yes," answer. If you put up a fight by asking too many questions, you're marked as a trouble-maker and targeted for removal.

This is how the good ole boys are doing it at a local level.

[Harry Monroe]

7. Bullshit!!

Remember this was in 2004, not 2001. Our Democrats already knew how corrupt and base Bush/Cheney was. If they were manipulated and coralled into a "yes" answer, then the Dems were weaker than we thought. The statement "we really had no idea what it was all about" speaks volumes. They SHOULD have asked questions. What is wrong with them. I'm sorry, but this is a poor excuse for knowing better. It doesn't wash.

[Harry Monroe]

8. And Daschle REALLY should have "known better"

By his statement that Cheney "talked like it was something routine", that alone should have set off alarm bells. "a classified surveillance program that involved monitoring Americans' e-mails and phone calls without court warrants" is something routine??? I'm no cogressman, but this is NOT routine!! How stupid and/or naive were they back then. This stretches the bounds of belief!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. You didn't get the whole quote.

Here it is:

Tom Daschle, then the Senate minority leader, tells NEWSWEEK that Cheney "talked like it was something routine. We really had no idea what it was all about." Still, as Daschle recalls, there were "a lot of concerns" expressed by some Democrats in the room when Cheney asked for their approval to continue the program. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then the House minority leader, recalls that she "made clear my disagreement with what the White House was asking."

First, they really had no idea what it was all about, but they obviously knew something was wrong because there were "a lot of concerns."

They did precisely what you expected them to do. It did set off alarms, but what could they do? The media was quickly covering up all kinds of information that would have toppled Bush-Cheney prior to the 2004 election. So who could they leak the information to?

[Harry Monroe]

10. But, you're not getting the big picture

It is shameful that they let themselves be steamrolled like this. "What could they do??!!" Jesus Christ, they could have grown a spine and stood up to Cheney!! You can spin this any way you want, but it shows how wimpy and weak our Democrats were back then. It is still happening now.

[KoKo]

11. Tech literacy problem, probably. And, I wonder who put the program together for Cheney

because I wonder how tech savvy he is that he could have put together a presentation of a program that's probably so complicated those without lots of computer tech experience would be able to understand.

But, it proves Cheney was the one who ordered Gonzo and Card to go to Ashcroft's bedside. The program was his baby and also whoever wrote it for him...Doug Feith or Karl Rove's techie wizards.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. How were they suppose to stand up to him? Anyone who tried to

criticize this administration was claimed to be helping Al Qaeda. The only thing that they could have done was leak the information to a newspaper which would have printed it. But the New York Times was still backing Judith Miller's position in favor of the war. And the others aren't exactly known for their Liberal views.

So, give me exact details of what you expected the Democrats to do in 2004 when they heard this was happening. Should they have physically beaten Cheney up? Should they have called a press conference and spilled the beans prior to the 2004 elections?

I understand why this particular meeting was held in private, but I can tell you that's the flaw in backroom meetings. If you're in the minority, crooked people can bandy together and talk over your objections. Then once they leave the room, they can say there was no real objection. That's why I'm not a proponent of secret, private backroom meetings. It's too easy to get steamrolled by crooked people.

[Supersedeas]

13. as if the WH had cherrypicked who they would brief--like NOT the Judiciary committee

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Hey, keyboard commando.

You sure talk big. I'm sure you'd have done much better in the same situation.

[nolabels]

17. What we have here is a problem with respect and credibility

And it really has nothing to do with the respect and credibility of the government officials involved (their positions are mostly known). This has to do with the after the fact that is the corrupt complicit corporate media and them trying to restore some level of their ever shrinking audience. You just need to ask the question where was the press and investigative reporters, where were they really?

[jimshoes]

12. I'd like to know who signed off

on this "program" in the first place and the exact date. Time for some sunshine on these cockroaches.

[MiniMe]

16. Wasn't it Jay Rockefeller who hand wrote a letter to Cheney disagreeing

Because it was too classified for his secretary to see it? How they can say there was no opposition is beyond me.