Jonathan Alter explains Obama's position on FISA

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this was on the Randi Rhodes show on Thursday 06/26/08

Many democrats just don't understand the fact that the new FISA bill is an attempt to reign in an out of control criminal president just before another election so that he cannot use warrantless wiretaps against his political enemies without any court supervision.

Also not many people know that the 4th amendment to the US Constitution was "temporarily" suspended in 2007 and that this FISA bill attempts to restore the Constitution, opposite to what Obama's critics on our side might say.

This from Sept 19th 2007:
"Republicans and the Bush administration used a 'bogus' terror threat that raised specific fears of an attack on the Capitol to scare lawmakers into adopting a dramatic temporary expansion of the government's spy powers last month, a former top intelligence committee Democrat said Wednesday.

Congress agreed to give President Bush and the nation's intelligence agencies extra authority to spy on Americans just hours before lawmakers left for a month-long recess in August. In the legislative session's final week, news emerged of an impending plot by foreign terrorists to attack the US Capitol, and Republicans pointed to the reports as justification to expand the administration's powers."



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Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: June 29, 2008 at 1:03 am
Author: madashelldude

Length: 00:10:58
Rating: 5.00
Views: 2055

Tags: Barack Obama FISA flip-flop Randi Rhodes Jonathan Alter

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Video Comments:
sadhouse (July 12, 2008 at 12:14 pm)
What Bull Shit , Obama is the presumptive nominee . We can bring this to the floor , wake up , deprogram and Fight . This nomination process was a sham , Obama's electability is sliding down , Most do not understand we can still Nominate another Candidate. Stop Dean and Pelosi from deciding for us . As did MoveOn . "We The People" not we the elite few . We can and should take it to the floor . This Country is in Peril Clinton is our best Hope .
EASullivan (July 11, 2008 at 4:44 am)
If Obama can't find the courage to fulfill his Senate oath of office and protect the Constitution now, how can anyone expect he would do so as President? Sorry, Barack, the Deal is Off...
theOtherJK (July 6, 2008 at 8:37 pm)
Y'know, whenever I hear that phrase "Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good" the speaker is usually trying to jusify something really BAD. Senator Obama took an oath to uphold the laws of the US, including FISA and its civil and criminal penalties. Changing the law now to let the telecoms off the hook is exactly the kind of thing someone taking the oath of office CANNOT do and what we as voters and Americans SHOULD NOT allow.

That's a "deal breaker" that will never be "ok" to me.
FeelFreeToArgue (July 5, 2008 at 11:15 am)
I'm sorry, I might buy this if it was coming from Obama instead of Alter, but if this is how Obama feels then why isn't he making this argument? What is leadership, if not the use of your skills to convince people that you are right? This what has bugged me about BO lately - he is not leading. He is losing the framing debate because he's allowing them to put him on the defensive. Until the SCOTUS restored it just a few weeks ago, we didn't have habeus corpus, arguably worse than losing the 4th.
FeelFreeToArgue (July 5, 2008 at 11:20 am)
I think the the interest in Ron Paul's campaign shows the American people care about these constitutional issues, but BO's approach increasingly says to me that he thinks we're too stupid to figure this stuff out or too apathetic or blinded by nationalistic pride to care. I don't think this is smart way to proceed on these matters.
jparmore (July 4, 2008 at 5:08 pm)
Thank you for this.
Elaiyel (July 4, 2008 at 8:25 am)
For any Obama supporter concerned about FISA

THIS EXPLAINS WHY HE SUPPORTS PERFECTLY.

It isn't Obama we should be angry at but the Republicans who fought tooth and nail for the telecom immunity provision in the bill

The bill restores FISA courts, and can be revisited once Senator Obama is elected President.