Crying Wolf And Crocodile Tears
by digby
Glenn updated his story about Mukasey literally choking up in public over the supposed fact that FISA prevented the government from stopping 9/11. It turns out that he was, as predicted, talking through his ass.
This might be understandable except for the fact that he is not just another bush hack. He's the Attorney General of the United States and a former federal judge. Now we know the job doesn't require legal competence --- Alberto Gonzales was formerly on the Texas Supreme Court after all. But he should be above cheap, emotional ploys to get legislation passed that would give big corporations immunity for helping the Bush administration usurp the constitution. And that's exactly what he's doing. There is no reasonable explanation for him making this kind of "mistake."
This part of his plea was especially nauseating:
Mr. Mukasey grimaced, swallowed hard, and seemed to tear up as he reflected on the weaknesses in America's anti-terrorism strategy prior to the 2001 attacks. "We got three thousand. ... We've got three thousand people who went to work that day and didn't come home to show for that," he said, struggling to maintain his composure.
At the time of the attacks, Mr. Mukasey was the chief judge at the federal courthouse a few blocks away from the World Trade Center. He was selected as attorney general in part because of his experience overseeing terrorism cases, but he said that did little to prepare him to deal with the daily briefing he receives about the threat to America.
"It is way beyond — way beyond anything that I knew or believed. So, if I was picked for the level of my knowledge of what I actually see, that was a massive piece of false advertising," he said. "There's a lot going on out there."
Right. Run fer yer lives. Which,again, is why we should give huge corporations retroactive immunity for breaking the law and make sure that there is no accountability ever for anything the government does to "protect" us. That's supposed to keep us safe for some reason.
I'm sorry, I just don't know that I can believe him. This is, after all, the administration that decided the best way to defend the nation was to invade and occupy a Muslim country that hadn't harmed us smack dab in the middle east. The same people who lied repeatedly about the cause for that war and used a lot of emotional manipulation, false information and rhetorical flim flam to convince the American people that it needed to be done. Excuse us for being a teensy bit skeptical.
The bottom line on this is simple. This administration lies as easily as it breathes. And it isn't about some childhood memory or the activity in someone's pants. It's about really serious shit --- the kind of serious shit that Mukasey was blubbering about before the Commonwealth Club. We have no way of knowing that the danger he cites is true, but we do know that he lied,outright, about the fact that FISA cause 9/11.
If we can get through the next nine months without the country being blown up, and we can elect a new administration that doesn't come from the same martial wingnut perspective, maybe we can get an accurate assessment of what's needed. (no guarantee there, but at least a chance.) Until then, at the very least, there should be nothing done --- not one piece of legislation passed, not one initiative undertaken --- to change the status quo. No SOFA, no FISA, no nothing. The whole national security regime will just have to muddle along with the laws and procedures that are already in place.
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