Cast a wide dragnet
I’m continually impressed by how often the Obama White House has done not only what he spoke against while Bush was president, but what the left fantasized/feared the Bush White House was doing. The latest example is obtaining the Verizon phone records of millions of Americans in a supposed effort to combat the terrorism that Obama has also said isn’t really a force anymore:
The [secret] order…requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.
The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk ”“ regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing…
The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.
The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI’s request for its customers’ records, or the court order itself.
The order is not limited to calls made to overseas, either, but includes wholly domestic calls as well.
Bush did much the same thing in 2006, to widespread criticism. The difference, of course, is that Bush did not base his political career on promising to eliminate such actions, as Obama did. Another difference is that few people (except the most virulent BDS sufferers) doubted that Bush was serious about fighting terrorism both at home and abroad—his rhetoric and actions consistently demonstrated it, whereas Obama has been inconsistent to say the least, as well as rhetorically weak.
Neither was Bush guilty of the sort of persecution and privacy violations of his political opposition that Obama has long perpetrated (I’m including the Obama campaign’s probable role in the unsealing of his rivals’ private divorce records during his 2004 Senate election). This is what makes these phone sweeps (and the AP and Rosen records-gathering, combined with the IRS scandal) so ominous.
[ADDENDUM: Michelle Malkin details some of the differences between Bush’s use of the program and Obama’s.]
Mr. Obama is morally a very weak man. If it is to his benefit, he will happily through anyone, or anything, to the sharks. The phone taps, the ongoing destruction of the DoD, selling out the Middle East to the Muslim Brotherhood, lying about Benghazi, the man has no scruples or morals whatsoever.
As Andrew McCarthy states, “The problem is a lack of trust, not privacy”.
No one is listening in to your conversation with Aunt Martha. It takes a warrant to wiretap your conversations and to do so, the Gov. must show a judge ‘probable cause’.
What the data tells the NSA is that a phone call was placed from one number to another, when it occurred and for how long. That most basic data is called ‘metadata’ and people see it on their phone bill every month.
An example of a legitimate reason to have the capability to review ALL domestic records would be if someone in the US made and received calls from an area in say, Yemen where al Qaeda has a strong presence. Clearly, that would be probable cause to look more closely at that individual.
And if it turns out that they’re an actual terrorist, knowing what phone numbers they’re calling in the US would be a necessary step in identifying any other members of a terrorist ‘cell’ that they might belong to…obviously, a very good thing.
The problem is the potential for abuse, thus the matter of trust. Having records of every call made allows the Obama administration to also know everyone who is in contact with Tea Party and other conservative groups and individuals… and knowing specifically who your ‘enemies’ are is of enormous assistance in targeting and persecuting them…
The Obama administration has repeatedly breached the public trust and even liberals are beginning to see not just the potential for but clear evidence of ‘police state’ tactics.
And that to is a very good thing.
The terrorists are the enemy, and as a nation, it’s important that the issues are clarified for the public. So GOP partisans should take care to criticize what Obama got wrong while preserving what he got wrong.
Good to see the Obama v Bush frame is being advanced, however incrementally at this point.
It’s important because politics is relative and the Dems come out ahead if they successfully muddy public perception on the issues and drag the GOP down with them. Rehabilitating Bush’s legacy with a direct contrast to Obama undermines a fundamental component of the Dems’ political advantage.
FYI, from President Obama’s Jan 2009 inaugural address:
The reference is John Stuart Mill. The thing is, expedient is not the same as exigent. Obama conflated the two notions in order to attack Bush. But once Obama was in Bush’s seat, the exigency didn’t change.
The Democrats’ corrupting of the public’s understanding of the issues in order to gain partisan advantage has misguided the nation. I hope the GOP can do better and maybe even fix the damage the Democrats have done.
Oops: “… while preserving what he got wrong.”
… while preserving what he got RIGHT.
Just read the Malkin piece. Bravo. That’s exactly! the tack the GOP should be taking on the issue.
Don’t throw out the baby of national security and the War on Terror with the bathwater, but do attack the Dems/Obama hypocrisy, lies, obfuscations, overreach, etc.. And rehabilitate Bush’s legacy.
“The most transparent administration ever” is transparently shoddy, underhanded, and untrustworthy.
Eric said…
Don’t throw out the baby of national security and the War on Terror with the bathwater, but do attack the Dems/Obama hypocrisy, lies, obfuscations, overreach, etc.. And rehabilitate Bush’s legacy.
Yes, exactly right.
Which is why Rand Paul is exactly the wrong person for those on the right to embrace — remember how he tried to derail the renewal of the Patriot Act? Unfortunately, he’s already released a statement about this FISA order. Any bets the MSM will focus on him?
I cannot think of any reason NSA would limit the call detail records snatch to Verizon only. I speculate they are snatching this metadata from every phone company.
I am not sure I believe that Bush did the same thing in 2006. I remember when the NYT revealed the program to monitor all cell phone calls where at least one end was international. That was a huge national security issue. I don’t remember anything about domestic only surveillance. There is some reason to doubt the USA Today article:
http://newsbusters.org/node/5435
We’ll see I guess. But isn’t now a well-established pattern with Obama that he abuses power in a way that is unprecedented? Why expect this scandal to be any different?
Ann: each to his own, but Rand Paul is a strong libertarian leaning conservative.
Steve,
I recommend reading the Malkin piece that Neo linked.
KLSmith,
Paul also promotes a position used by leftists and terrorists.
Eric: his non-interventionist tenancies may be stronger than I wish but when the alternatives are clowns like McCain and Grahamnesty – I’ll go with Paul. He is singing the right song on government that is too big and too out of control.
Obama has said the war on terror is over. All government agencies are now directed to go after conservatives and destroy them. Obama has already admitted that the only enemies he has is conservatives.
We’ve gone right past banana republic status onto a communist police state é la Stalin.
What oh what, will they show me next. The Left’s power certainly can draw in many sycophants and fanatics.
Government does not have the Constitutional authority to do anything which compromises my rights under the 4th without (realistic) probable cause and a warrant. The creation of HLS and the Patriot Act under Bush2 and as expanded by Obama are far more dangerous than any jihad maniacs. Give me liberty over security any day.
I’m all for pursuing the towel heads to the far corners of the earth; I am categorically against the very concept that my (and everyone’s) natural rights can be trampled by a bunch of bureaucrats and political henchmen on a fishing expedition in the name of security.
“The problem is a lack of trust, not privacy”.
And who is enough of a fool to trust DC? Lets see a show of hands. Raise them high.
Yes, elections have consequences. The telecom data gathering is a useful tool for countering terrorism. Unfortunately, it could also be a useful tool to spy on one’s domestic political opposition. Whether this new revelation matters depends on whether the citizens trust their government to use it only for counter terrorism. Obama and company seem to have destroyed that trust. At least for a large segment of the population.
In some ways I’m glad to see their power grabbing ploys exposed. But I shudder to think how screwed up our government has become – particularly when it comes to doing their primary job of defense and national law enforcement. Can we trust the FBI, DOJ, ATF, IRS, NSA, DHS, etc.? They are supposed to be our front line of national defense. We need to trust them and even encourage them. Obama has turned that on its head.
Since we now know the IRS targeted Tea Party groups, it is not hard to imagine how they could correlate the IRS data with phone data. Once the IRS knows the phone number of the Tea Party group leader who made the application, they can pass the information up to NSA. NSA know who she called and how often, and who they called and how often. Pretty soon, NSA has identified every Tea Party Patriot in America. Since this is the Obama administration, it is not hard to imagine that the NSA fed that information back to the IRS so they can audit any Tea Party Patriot worth auditing.
Problem is, for them, most Tea Party Patriots are working stiffs just trying to get by. Our local Tea Party co-ordinator works for a contractor fixing bridges and sinking piles. He makes a poor target.
The reason for all the surveillance data sweeps is to protect America from the enemy. The problem is, nobody has ever specifically said “WHO” that enemy is.
George Bush called the enemy “terrorists”, but terrorism isn’t a person but rather a technique. Baptist terrorists, Catholic terrorists, Muslim terrorists – nobody has specifically said. Most Americans believe it to be Muslim terrorists, but that just a public opinion.
How does Barack H. Obama define the word “enemy” to America? From everything I’ve read concerning DHS and the US Army, America militia and gun owners are the principle terrorists. The Obama administration seems more intent on a CYA maneuver from it’s anti-American policies than protecting us from Islamic terrorists. Hence, if they cannot disarm the public then purchase all the ammunition available – making the fighting capability of homegrown terrorist very fragile.
JJ: “They are supposed to be our front line of national defense. We need to trust them and even encourage them. Obama has turned that on its head.”
Here’s how to fix this: Put Bush to work again. No, not the worn out and retired 2-term President, but rather his record.
The premise is that we trusted Bush to weigh the different considerations when there was no easy right answer, and to make the tough call. To exercise power as needed for national security exigency, but to also draw lines while doing so in order to uphold the public trust.
Meme-ify Bush’s record as the pop-politics standard by which to judge Obama: What Would (Did) Bush Do?
In difficult, complex situation X, Y, or Z, Obama has done this that’s eroded our trust. Bad Obama! What Would Bush Do? Here’s what he did in a similar or analogous difficult, complex situation to X, Y, Z, to meet the need while upholding the public trust. Again and again, Bush was right.
Hold Obama up to Bush’s standard where Obama is revealed to be the smaller President.
Michelle Malkin’s post provides a blueprint for the Obama v Bush frame. Rehabilitate Bush’s legacy and turn the table on the Dems by spotlighting and disgracing every dirty trick they used against Bush, every lie they ever told, every self-serving act that weakened our nation and misguided the American people in order to advance their own partisan interests.
Short term, use the meme ruthlessly and repetitively enough to contain Obama within Bush’s record and, long term, expose the Democrats for what they are.
David Yothum,
Huh?
President Bush was pretty clear about what terrorists we were fighting in the War on Terror, without the need to impute “a public opinion” of their identity. Examples:
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040602.html
Great balanced discussion with many specifically cautioning not to throw the baby our with the bathwater. Using this stuff to target the opposition just is not on and I’m glad to see many liberals getting that quickly too. We have to come to terms with the a new technological world where privacy, as we have known it, is no longer the default we can expect. Remember the father who was up in arms because some store was targeting his daughter with diaper ads – because they knew from metadata that she was probably pregnant before her father did? You only can get a degree of privacy today if you make an effort and take considerable care. And even doing that in itself can draw attention to you. That said, the Verizon scandal coming on the heels of the IRS targeting scandal makes it really hard not to connect the dots and that is why I am so happy to see that my fellow Republicans here are not reacting in an overly partisan fashion on this one.
The power of evil is a beautiful thing, is it not. Oh how hard we try to convince people using reason and logic to do things in their own benefit. Yet evil waves a hand, and tens of millions kill themselves to further the cause of a few aristos.
Such is the magnificence, and beauty, of evil. That is why humans consider it good, divine, and worthy to pursue in life. For nothing they have ever seen, minus the Divine Source, compared in any fashion. It’s easy to get those two mixed up, certainly if your vision, heart, and soul are weak.
“because they knew from metadata that she was probably pregnant before her father did?”
No, they knew what websites and search terms she used, and made an educated guess.
“The problem is a lack of trust, not privacy”.
Actually, it’s both. Richard Fernandez’s column on this is the best description of why PRSIM, in tandem with the IRS harassment and AP/Fox news scandals, is so disturbing. http://tinyurl.com/lr5bvzf
“What the IRS and AP wiretapping scandals demonstrated was the administration’s intent in action. They want to clobber key nodes. What the FBI/NSA data mining operations show is capability. They can clobber key nodes. The Obama administration has demonstrated the intent to pick apart affinity groups with IRS. The Verizon and PRISM stories show how they have potentially been doing it.”
Read the whole thing.
I would like to speak to an Obamacan, in a closed room under 24 hour interrogation protocols. There are things I would like to know that can only be found there.
Those who refused to unleash the fire of Fallujah upon Detroit and Chicago… won’t get another chance. For you will become the insurgency that the Left will crush with COIN.
Use it or lose it. And we are well on the path to losing it.
Make sure to scrub your facebook pages on a set delay, not that it will stop the data form being mirrored on fed servers.
Meanwhile, while this is happening, the forces of reason, progress, and American Justice and Truth are talking about electing some “leader” to save them from themselves.
That’ll work out well. Still waiting on that “savior” in the form of “politics”, and I’ve been waiting for several years even.
}}} “The most transparent administration ever” is transparently shoddy, underhanded, and untrustworthy.
You forgot “criminally negligent at best”. Fast and Furious, dude.