John Dean Blasts Warrantless Eavesdropping

[sabra]

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060331/APA/603310609

John Dean Blasts Warrantless Eavesdropping


Nixon White House counselor John Dean, testifying in favor of a Democratic resolution to censure President Bush, asserted Friday that Bush's conduct in connection with domestic spying exceeds the wrongdoing that toppled his former boss from power.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, fired back by telling Democrats: "Quit trying to score political points."

The Senate, Dean said, should censure or officially scold Bush as proposed by Sen. Russell Feingold's resolution. But if that action carries too much political baggage, some senatorial warning is in order, Dean said.

"The resolution should be amended, not defeated, because the president needs to be reminded that separation of powers does not mean an isolation of powers," Dean said in prepared remarks. "He needs to be told he cannot simply ignore a law with no consequences."

[SoFlaJet]

1. this is the part that pisses me off....

Privately, Democrats in the House and Senate have said that embracing a censure resolution before the facts are known would damage their credibility this election year.

For his part, Feingold has accused those Democrats who have not embraced his proposal of cowering.

[wordpix]

2. I don't get why Dean suggests amending the resolution, * broke the law,

it's not that difficult! Dean says Bush's conduct was worse than Nixon's but senators should amed the resolution? Huh? :(

snip: Nixon White House counselor John Dean... asserted Friday that Bush's conduct in connection with domestic spying exceeds the wrongdoing that toppled his former boss from power.


snip: "The resolution should be amended, not defeated, because the president needs to be reminded that separation of powers does not mean an isolation of powers," Dean said in prepared remarks. "He needs to be told he cannot simply ignore a law with no consequences."

[UpInArms]

3. related: Watergate Figure Attends Censure Hearing

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&e=14&u=/ap/20060331/ap_on_go_co/senate_censure

WASHINGTON - John Dean, counsel to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, is headlining a Senate hearing Friday on whether to censure President Bush for authorizing a domestic wiretapping program as part of the war on terrorism.

<snip>

After The New York Times revealed the program in December, Dean wrote that "Bush may have outdone Nixon" and be worthy not just of censure but impeachment.

"Nixon's illegal surveillance was limited; Bush's, it is developing, may be extraordinarily broad in scope," Dean wrote in a column for FindLaw.com in December.

Dean served four months in prison for his role in Watergate, a political scandal that involved illegal wiretapping, burglary and abuse of power aimed at Nixon enemies. Administration officials were implicated in the ensuing cover-up.

Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974, less than two weeks after the House Judiciary Committee began approving three articles of impeachment against him, charging obstruction of justice as well as abuse of power and withholding evidence.

...more...

[mrdmk]

4. The article is incorrect about time served

<snip from OP article>
Dean served four months in prison for his role in Watergate, a political scandal that involved illegal wiretapping, burglary and abuse of power aimed at Nixon enemies. Administration officials were implicated in the ensuing cover-up.
<end of snip>

<snip from Wikipedia>
Sirica handed down a sentence of one to four years in a minimum-security prison. However, when Dean surrendered himself as scheduled on September 3, he was diverted to the custody of U.S. Marshals and kept instead at Fort Holabird (near Baltimore, Maryland) in a special "safe house" holding facility primarily used for witnesses against the Mafia. He spent his days in the offices of the Watergate Special Prosecutor and testifying in the trial of Watergate conspirators Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson, which concluded on January 1, 1975. Dean's lawyer moved to have his sentence reduced, and on January 8, Sirica granted the motion, adjusting Dean's sentence to time served.
<end of snip>
link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dean

Is it me or do journalist have no sense of history?

[MissMillie]

5. Hasn't every abuse of power been touted as being

"for your own good" though my favorite is: "if you're not doing anything wrong, you won't mind" (someone here very nicely countered that with "if Bush isn't doing anything wrong, he can get a warrant."

"Bush has said the National Security Agency's secretive wiretapping program is aimed at finding terrorists before they strike on American soil by tapping the phones of people making calls overseas.

[struggle4progress]

6. John Dean on Censure (Rolling Stone)

Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, making a forceful call for censure of President Bush over his illegal wiretapping. Excerpts:

No presidency that I can find in history has adopted a policy of expanding presidential powers merely for the sake of expanding presidential powers.... It has been the announced policy of the Bush/Cheney presidency, however, from its outset, to expand presidential power for its own sake, and it continually searched for avenues to do just that, while constantly testing to see how far it can push the limits. I must add that never before have I felt the slightest reason to fear our government. Nor do I frighten easily. But I do fear the Bush/Cheney government (and the precedents they are creating) because this administration is caught up in the rectitude of its own self-righteousness, and for all practical purposes this presidency has remained largely unchecked by its constitutional coequals....

Congress is now confronted with executive branch attorneys who take the most aggressive reading possible in all situations that favor executive power.... If this committee does not believe this Administration is hell bent on expanding its powers ... you have been looking the other way for some five years of this presidency.... That is why censure might be the only way for the Senate to avoid acquiescing in what is clearly a blatant violation of the 1978 FISA stature, not to mention the Fourth Amendment.

I implore the Senate to undertake not a partisan action, but a strong institutional action. I recall a morning -- March 21, 1973 -- that I tried to warn a president of the consequences of staying his course. I failed to convince President Nixon that morning, and the rest, as they say, is history. I certainly do not claim to be prescient. Then or now. But actions have consequences, and to ignore them is merely denial. Today, it is very obvious that history is repeating itself.... I hope that the collective wisdom of this committee will prevail, and you will not place the president above the law by inaction.... Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold before it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/nataffdaily/story/9552981/john_dean_on_censure?rnd=1143864027911&has-player=true&version=6.0.11.847

[Gregorian]

7. There are still intelligent fighters left.

They are going to have to pry our cold dead hands from America. And it isn't going without a big fight.

REMEMBER THIS- even the corporations are nothing without the people. They're just trying to make America a place where people are at the mercy of the corporations. And it's not going to happen. Period. Because even if the American people don't do it, it'll happen from the outside. As they destroy the country in their attempt to accomplish their mission, the rest of the world is sneaking up behind them.