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Home Front: Politix
Roberts 'puzzled' by Rockefeller's concerns
2005-12-21
The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday scathingly disputed claims by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV that he harbored deep concerns about the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program when he was briefed on the matter.

Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican and chairman of the normally apolitical committee, said he was "puzzled" by a letter that Mr. Rockefeller, West Virginia Democrat and vice chairman of the committee, said he sent to Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003 after one such briefing. "In his letter ... Senator Rockefeller asserts that he had lingering concerns about the program designed to protect the American people from another attack, but was prohibited from doing anything about it," Mr. Roberts said in a statement yesterday. "A United States Senator has significant tools with which to wield power and influence over the executive branch. Feigning helplessness is not one of those tools."
Ooooo, that's gonna leave a mark
In his 2003 letter to Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rockefeller said the program raised "profound oversight issues" and he regretted that high security of the program prevented him from seeking advice on the matter. Mr. Rockefeller also told Mr. Cheney that he had made a handwritten copy of the letter, which he distributed to the press Monday. If Mr. Rockefeller had these concerns, Mr. Roberts said, he could have raised them with him or other members of Congress who had been briefed on the program. "I have no recollection of Senator Rockefeller objecting to the program at the many briefings he and I attended together," Mr. Roberts said. "In fact, it is my recollection that on many occasions Senator Rockefeller expressed to the vice president his vocal support for the program," most recently, "two weeks ago."

"The real question is whether the Administration lived up to its statutory requirement to fully inform Congress and allow for adequate oversight and debate," Mr. Rockefeller said. "The simple answer is no."

Mr. Roberts accused Mr. Rockefeller of political opportunism. "Now, when it appears to be politically advantageous, Senator Rockefeller has chosen to release his two and a half year old letter," he Said. "Forgive me if I find this to be ... a bit disingenuous."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, announced that she wrote a letter, too, but couldn't provide it because, she said, it was classified.
"I wrote it, really I did. Trust me"
"When I learned that the National Security Agency had been authorized to conduct the activities that President Bush referred to in his December 17 radio address, I expressed my strong concerns in a classified letter to the administration and later verbally," she said in a statement issued yesterday. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill agreed that hearings should be conducted into the matter, but disagreed over whether those hearings should be public or sealed to protect classified information.
Posted by:Steve

#14  "Disingenuous"
A very handy word indeed. It allows you to call somebody a liar using softer Latin syllables.

Webster: "not candid, not straightforward, insincere."

Quotation: "Persons entirely disingenuous, who really do not believe the opinions they defend." --Hume

Synonyms: unfair, insincere, crafty, sly, cunning.
Posted by: mom   2005-12-21 17:12  

#13  I'da preferred the Megan Marshack method, myself...

Hi'ya hi'ya hi'ya
Rosebud.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220   2005-12-21 14:12  

#12  tu3031 -
"Human meat is saltier than beef"
-Idi Amin
Posted by: BigEd   2005-12-21 14:05  

#11  Okay, I found it...

On November 18, 1961, Rockefeller and Dutch anthropologist René Wassing were in a 40-foot dugout canoe about three miles from shore when they were swamped. The two native guides swam for help, but it was slow in coming. After drifting for some time, Rockefeller said "I think I can make it" and swam for shore. Wassing was rescued the next day, while Rockefeller was never seen again, despite a lengthy search effort. He was finally declared dead in 1964.
Most believe that Rockefeller either drowned, was attacked by a shark or crocodile, or was killed by the native cannibals. Some reports have surfaced of a white man living with the natives, but those stories are not widely believed.

I'da preferred the Megan Marshack method, myself...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-12-21 13:40  

#10  bigjim, that quote was referenced to Sen. Roberts who called Rockefeller to the mat. Not a lib in my book.
Posted by: BA   2005-12-21 13:35  

#9  As I remember, BigEd, wasn't one of them eaten by cannibals in Africa back in the 60s?
No, that's not a joke. He was kidnapped while in the Peace Corps in Africa or something like that.
Posted by: tu3031   2005-12-21 13:35  

#8  "disingenuous"
There's that word again, do all liberals use that word?
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2005-12-21 13:13  

#7  I saw a doco on the Rockefeller family a while back. The younger ones all went hard left in the Sixties. It was amusing at the time, listening to these long haired Rockefellers lecturing their parents on the evils of wealth and their dire fate when the Revolution comes. Not so amusing now.
How sharper than a serpents tooth, to have an ungrateful child.
Posted by: Grunter   2005-12-21 12:55  

#6  Looks like the SOP is, whenever they get a briefing on something sensitive, write a letter about their "deep concerns". Into the files it goes, just in case.

Reminds me of when I was in High School, and some pea-brained bureaucrat that was shoved into a position called "counsellor", would threaten to put something in someone's "permanent record" for some minor offense.

W must be laughing. Rockefeller is trading on the famly name to make his point.
Posted by: BigEd   2005-12-21 12:39  

#5  Looks like the SOP is, whenever they get a briefing on something sensitive, write a letter about their "deep concerns". Into the files it goes, just in case.
Posted by: Grunter   2005-12-21 12:27  

#4  Every time I hear one of the Dhimmicrats feign outrage I am reminded of Captain Renault in Casablanca:
Rick: “Why are you shutting us down?”
Renault: “I am shocked, SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on at Rick’s”
Waiter (handing a wad of cash to Reanault): “Here are your winnings Captain Renault.”

Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-12-21 11:07  

#3  Rocky, nicknamed for what is inside his cranium, has convienien MadCow prions, or Alzheimer plaque in regard to a couple of things about Demowimp Presidents and domestic spying...

Clinton Domestic Spying

And, let's take a look at the Executive Order signed by Jimmuh Crack-Peanuts in 1979.

Executive order 12139

Old Rocky Brained Feller ought to stick it where the sun don't shine...
Posted by: BigEd   2005-12-21 11:05  

#2  Good on ya Sen. Pat Roberts,

Repubs better start fighting back, Start by indicting some Dimmidonk hacks and let them taste some legal consequences for a change, the leaking bastards.
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-12-21 10:51  

#1  I am awaiting the highly nuanced comments from the Junior Senator from New York..... waiting.... waiting...
Posted by: TomAnon   2005-12-21 10:49  

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