Republicans can't be bothered to attend FISA meetings when there is political hay to be made...

I really resent the hell out of having crap like this waved in my face:

The Bush administration informed Congress on Friday that the government has “lost intelligence” because of the expiration of surveillance legislation caught in a political tug of war.

“We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress’ failure to act,” says an underlined passage of a six-page letter signed by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell.

Of course, the fear-mongering screed does not provide any, you know, details or anything, just banal assertions of impending doom.

I especially hate it when this sort of thing just flies right under the CNN/M$M line...

“The House and Senate met again today to produce a strong new FISA bill and once again, Republicans and the White House refused to come to the negotiating table. Despite the Republicans’ apparent insistence on turning this into a partisan issue, Congressional Democrats will continue to reach out in a bipartisan way to finalize a strong FISA law that protects our national security and our civil liberties.

“Meanwhile, in a letter to the Congress today, the Bush Administration repeated its claim that the expiration of the Protect America Act (PAA) has resulted in intelligence gaps. If the expiration of the PAA has lessened the willingness of telecommunications companies to comply with surveillance requests to protect our national security, the President and Congressional Republicans have only themselves to blame for refusing to support the PAA’s extension.

“The existing FISA statute provides a remedy: convert the surveillance requests to compulsory court orders. The Director of National Intelligence has admitted that the backlog at the FISA court that prompted the passage of the PAA last summer no longer exists. FISA court orders can therefore be issued even more quickly than they were in the past.”

So let's get this straight - administration minions can pen a letter in which they make broad assertions about how we are all, every last one of us, in peril, because the Democrats won't roll over for retroactive telecom immunity, but your Publican legislators can't be bothered to come to the table? And the mythical "lost intel" is the story for the media outlets that bother to report it? And the churlish fucks who refuse to negotiate get a pass?

Yeah, there's your so-called liberal media, folks. Holy Chocolate Covered Christ. I don't know which is more infuriating - the idiots who keep spouting the liberal media myth, or the banality of the corporate GOP shills among the M$M. Call it a toss-up. I hate them both with equal vigor and venom.

Gerson’s Tour de Farce

Not even a week has passed since KKKarl announced his resignation that will put him back in Texas and out of reach of the Sergeants of Arms of the congressional chambers should charges of Inherent Contempt be filed (we have already been told to piss off, the Justice Department he gutted won’t be doing it’s job for the American people and the Constitution) and already the rewriting of history is underway.

In today’s Washington Post, quintessential Useful Idiot™ Michael Gerson gets down on his knees and commences to….well, you get the idea….

Rove's main influence on the Republican Party has not been a series of tactical innovations but a series of strategic arguments. In this way, Rove is the opposite of a cynical political operator. He is not only a partisan for George W. Bush but the most serious, tireless advocate of Bushism. (emphasis mine)

Rove? The opposite of a cynical political operative? (Yeah - and slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength, and we have always been at war with EastAsia.)

Which Rove would that be, exactly? The Rove who assumed a fake identity to steal letterhead from the opponent in his very first campaign, and used it to make fake fliers promising “beer, food, girls and a good time for nothing” and passes them out at concerts and homeless shelters in an effort to disrupt the opponents campaign? Or the Rove who had a habit of anonymously tipping off the U.S. Attorneys in Texas that his Democratic opponents were committing illegal acts? To that end, investigations would be started that came to naught once the election was over?

Or would it be the Rove that thinks committing treason is just fine and dandy if it is for political reasons he wants to see advanced? It isn't cynical to sacrifice national security to cover up that a war was sold on false intel and blatant lies?

Or the Karl Rove that is way overrated as a “genius” campaign manager? They guy who wanted so badly to flip a blue state that they pissed around the last week of the 2000 election trying to win New Jersey and California, so the popular vote went to Gore, and the selection was made by the Supreme Court?

Or the Rove that lusts after the support of the African-American community, but will turn to race bating in a heartbeat to win an election?

Or the Rove that gutted the DoJ and turned it into the law enforcement arm of the Republican Party?

There are several KKKarl’s to chose from – and every last one of them is a “cynical political operative” so there are only two choices…Either Gerson is a bootlicking fucking shill, or he is under the influence of the Imperius Curse.

I have some questions...

[UPDATE Below]

I am sitting over here, on the left side of a red state, furiously looking for answers to seemingly vital questions that no one is bothering to ask. This is irritating me to no end.

I don’t care about the sexual aspect of the DC Madam scandal.

I care about the National Security aspect.

Doesn’t anyone else see any parallels with the Profumo Affair? Except the American production features multiple Profumos! Deputy Secretary of State getting massages in his home from $300 escorts and "central american gals" is a big deal and reason for concern.

The war planner that authored the “Shock & Awe” strategy has been named. Multiple Pentagon officers and high level officials have been alluded to. ABC news reportedly has the phone records. It is the responsibility of the national press as a constitutionally protected check against government abuses to reveal this information.

This is absolutely a matter of National Security.

I have a couple of questions for the State Department and the Pentagon.

--What are you doing to ensure national security?

--What is the status of these individuals with regard to their respective clearances and access to secrets?

I am speaking as someone who knows a little something about security clearance protocol. If an Airman from Whiteman AFB gets busted with a hooker on Troost, he ain’t goin’ to complex anymore.

So why are these people, with the highest level access – who actually do the war planning!!! – still on their jobs given the nature of these allegations?

I guess I have a question for the mainstream media too…

Where the hell is the National Security beat? Why is this question not being asked by them?

UPDATE: Dana Milbank at the WaPo has an interesting gossip column take on the case. Yet still no one is asking the hard National Security questions.

[Cross-posted from Watching Those We Chose]