Censure hearing thread

[whometense]

Who on earth was that LUNATIC Turner?? Good god.

"We should instead censure the post-1971 Congress." ???

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. Dean up now

the last guy was full of shit.

[TayTay]

2. This should be good

Saying Cornyn dissed him and should have stayed to hear Dean out.

Cornyn is a twisted little bastard. He must have been some judge, the kind who makes up the law.

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. You know

why even bother having FISA, since these idiots think the pResident can do whatever he wants. Mind boggling. :crazy:

[whometense]

4. Revenge is a dish...

best served cold.

Did I hear Dean say Cornyn would be making an appearance in his newest book? I'm guessing from his tone that it won't be a flattering cameo.

:rofl:

[fedupinBushcountry]

5. GO LEAHY GO

:applause:

[whometense]

6. Specter is being such a

d*ck.

"No one can say I'm not interested in oversight."

Oh, really?? I'm saying it. Weasel.

[fedupinBushcountry]

8. Graham

is an ass. He's scared and he's trying to twist the truth.

[Mass]

9. What's up with Dean saying that Nixon covered a crime for

national security reasons?

[Mass]

7. Question - Except for Leahy and Feingold, is any other Dems here?

[fedupinBushcountry]

10. Not that I see n/t

[Mass]

11. Sigh!

Not that I am surprised, but I am disappointed when it comes to Kennedy and Durbin.

[MH1]

35. Wasn't there supposed to be immigration debate today too?

:shrug:

[whometense]

12. It is strange that they're not there at all.

Must be a strategy of some sort.

[Mass]

13. Yes, he was called by Feingold.

[fedupinBushcountry]

14. I remember him

being on a panel about the discussion of this. It was on C-Span will have to look it up.

[whometense]

15. Every time Hatch

opens his mouth I swear my blood pressure shoots through the roof.

"My Gosh!"

It's that gee-whillikers-softspoken voice combined with the pure poison contained in his words that does it. I need valium.

[ginnyinWI]

36. I nominate him for today's "Worst Person in the World"

Mealy-mouthed sycophant!

[TayTay]

16. I seem to be the only one who is not upset that all dems are not there.

I have watched enough hearings to see that they are often sparesely attended. This seems to be like the other hearings. I think it's normal.

DU is going to be really awful for the rest of the weekend. Sigh!

[whometense]

17. I'm not upset at all.

Just mildly curious.

Feingold is doing an excellent job presenting his own case - I don't know that the presence of the other would have added anything.

I am upset - a lot - by some of the things I'm hearing.

[TayTay]

21. The Rethugs have played their hand

This is not an illegal program

The Dems knew about it throught the 'Gang of 8.'

Dean is a jerk and Nixon knew he was breaking the law. (Not clear on this Talking Point. Seemed dumb to me.)

Sen. Cornyn is a coward who smears someone then leaves before they can confront him on his words.

Sen. Feingold is very forcefully making his points. He's doing a good job.

[wisteria]

18. I am not upset either.

I am sure they are following the proceedings while they fulfill other commitments. Our senators do have other issues to deal with and people to see. Was other Senate business to be put on hold simply because Feingold has made a request for censure?
Let them on DU complain,they obviously are confused about it not being necessary for all the Democrats to be there with Feingold right now.

[babylonsister]

19. I wish some would have showed up to demonstrate some

support, not necessarily to talk. Only Leahy and Feingold being there for an issue of such potential importance doesn't speak well of the Dems in general imo.

[ProSense]

20. I'm not upset, but maybe for a different reason

The Republicans are lunatics and this is the point Kennedy and others were trying to make about timing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=803604&mesg_id=803712

People are screaming this throughout the thread, not realizing the contradiction: This is a he said, he said debate, with no force of an investigation's findings behind it.

This really makes me ill (not against Feingold. Without Republican support this was bound to turn into a nasty argument. Unlike a confirmation, the Repubs have no interest is putting this to a floor vote. If introduce on the floor, they have no intention of supporting it. The only Independent in the house is against it. The Democrats need to continue pressing for full disclosure and investigation until the time comes that they can be in command of these hearings and have subpoena power.


JMO

[whometense]

22. Excellent points.

I agree.

The fix is in as far as this motion is concerned. The republicans have no conscience. If anyone is wtching this and comes out bkaming the democrats, they have their head on backwards.

[ProSense]

24. One good thing

In the last official thread, a lot of comments about Congress not having declared war and Bush violating from the authorizations. If only this will be remembered.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=805008&mesg_id=805008

[whometense]

25. If only.

One thought about these hearings: Specter keeps patting himself on the back for having held four whole hearings in March. The hearings largely remind me of presidential debates - they can be somewhat illuminating, but with the stupid 5-minute rule no one participants are prevernted from really getting into serious debates on the issues. As a result, you come out of a 3-hour hearing thinking that nothing of substance really happened.

I'd like to see them go on long enough to scratch off some of that senatorial veneer of mutual respect to the degree that they actually got to press each other on the issue at hand.

[ProSense]

27. What will the MSM report.

Babylonsister posted that no one brought up the fact that Americans are being spied on, that it's not just about calls intercepted. They brought up changing the law. That's another danger, I sure the MSM will focus on warrantless wiretapping of U.S.-foreign calls and changing the law, which will have no relevance to the aspect of spying on Americans.

[TayTay]

30. AP Newsbrief on this event

John Dean Blasts Warrantless Eavesdropping

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Nixon White House counselor John Dean asserted Friday that
President Bush's domestic spying exceeds the wrongdoing that toppled his former
boss from power, and Sen. Orrin Hatch snapped that Democrats were trying to
"score political points" with a motion to censure Bush. "Had the Senate or
House, or both, censured or somehow warned Richard Nixon, the tragedy of
Watergate might have been prevented," Dean told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold
before it."


No mention of other Senators at all. But this is a good quote from Dean.

[ProSense]

32. That's a great quote.

"Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold
before it."


It leaves open the possibility that something more serious could be discovered.

[whometense]

23. Bad faith.

I thought Specter actually had a point there. To me that was the big fat elephant in the room through the whole hearing. You can have all the appropriate laws in the world, but when you have the Bush cabal in charge of implementing them all bets are off.

They are liars and cheats and the republican congress has their backs.

[fedupinBushcountry]

26. I agree

they really looked like hypocrites, saying one thing, which in reality Bush did in fact break the law. Then turn and diss FISA and the lame excuse that it needs fixing. WTF?

They are so COVERING UP for this criminal admistration. I hope to God we take back the house or Senate to get back our government, because right now we have a monarchy.

[ProSense]

28. Specter showed himself to be a true hypocrite.

All along questioning the legality, then ending up running interference for Bush. He could have at least made another hollow promise to look into it further.

[wisteria]

31. This is what Specter does all the time. He has been my Senator

for a long time and he knows just what to say to make you think he is actually fair and honest,then he goes right along with the party. Never, ever hold out hope that he will vote with us and against his own party- especially with this particular administration in power. He wants to retain his rankings on all his committees. The judiciary being his coveted prize.

[ProSense]

33. Without the title of your post, this could easily be about

McCain or Hagel. Damn, there has got to be a way to expose these liars.

[jillan]

29. I am so f* pissed at Specter

The way he ended the hearing.
Quoting one op-ed after another against Censure.

And not presenting those articles when Russ could've responded.
He summed it up saying that he did his part, and this was
ridiculous.

It was a big "na, na, na, na, naaaaah" to Russ.
And after Russ even wished him a happy birthday lol.

Watching Specter throughout the SCOTUS hearings, and now this,
I have lost ALL respect for him.

[fedupinBushcountry]

34. This will be repeated in FULL

at 8:50 tonight on C-Span. I didn't realize they didn't show it from the start.