May 17, 2007

Wiretapping and Worse

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Even before his his astonishing testimony on Tuesday, all of us here at Dakota were quite taken with James Comey, former Deputy Attorney General, a Republican who kept his ethical center under what we now know was tremendous pressure. Over at Firedoglake, "Looseheadprop" provides more of the back story.

.. the WH had to know by then that Comey was not a go along to get along guy. I always thought that the fact that New York Magazine made a point to talk about the fact that Schumer had forced Comey into SDNY to keep a loyal footsoldier out of there in an article about Comey going to Washington was a clear signal that NYMag had heard the same story about Comey being forced down the White House's throat.

I have always wondered who pulled that off. Was it Schumer? Was is a group of non-wingnut Republicans? I can tell you that many republicans saw his arrival in DC as the only hope that the party would not be destroyed by the Plame scandal, not because he would cover it up — but precisely because they were confident he would NOT allow it to be covered up. When he immediately appointed PatFitz, many good, honest, ethical, decent republican lawyers breathed a sigh of relief.

Pretty much from the day he arrived, the word was that Comey was effectively running DOJ and that Ashcroft was off at his farm in Virginia doing the planning work for his next job, and taking care of his health.

Certainly, Comey became the guy with his finger in the dike trying to hold back the worst of the WH power grab and trying to protect his beloved DOJ from the unethical assault that was to come.

You may have noticed from Marcy's timeline and Jane's post building on it, that the really outrageous things which were apparently in the planning stages for a long time, could not be executed while Comey remained in office.

Alas, he's gone.

What was the administration in such a hurry to have signed, anyway? If John Ashcroft wouldn't sign it, and arose from his dire illness to say so, it must have been reeeeeally reeeeally reeeeeally bad, because Ashcroft was quite the little Bushkisser in his day.

So now we have Alberto Gonzales confidently obstructing justice because he's head of the Department of Justice and he is in charge of appointing special prosecutors to investigate heinous crimes like the ones he probably just committed - a jumbo conflict of interest.

Here's our President responding to questions asked by the press. We could hardly pay attention, because he reminded us how scared we should be of those terrorists again.

Speaking of scared, if you want a better idea of what it's like to live under surveillance-- especially if you think it can't happen to you, go see "The Lives of Others" Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film about life under the Stasi in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a timely tale, that illuminates life in a police state, and its effect on the human spirit. Or you can skip the art, and take your dose directly from the Frontline Special Spying on the Home Front right now, in the comfort of your home.

Well guys, we have the gulags, it's just a question of who will be locked up in them.

Photo note: I just knew I would need some good wiretapping shots. I've been collecting them.


Posted by Dakota at May 17, 2007 09:54 AM