By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — The Bush administration escalated its defense of the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program on Thursday, even as Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the program aggressively once they assume power.
In Washington, President Bush urged that during the lame-duck session that starts next week, Congress pass a bill effectively authorizing the program. And in San Francisco, the Justice Department told a federal court that public scrutiny of the operation risked “exceptionally grave harm to national security.”
But Democrats sounded impatient to begin getting more answers after what they characterized as 11 months of stonewalling by the administration since the program was publicly disclosed last December.
“This administration first hid its domestic spying program from Congress and Americans for years, and when it was discovered, has ducked and weaved on its legal justifications,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who is to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control.
Snip...
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who currently leads the Judiciary Committee and is the main advocate of wiretapping legislation there, acknowledged the difficulty of getting his bill through the Senate now.
“There’s been a seismic change in the Senate landscape,” Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview, “so I’m not sure exactly how all that is going to work out.”
more...By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — It was no doubt inadvertent, but it was hard not to find some symbolism in the moment Thursday in the Oval Office when President Bush seemed to forget that Vice President Dick Cheney was in the room.
Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader who is soon to become the first female speaker of the House, and Steny H. Hoyer, the Democratic whip, had come to the White House for lunch. As the two Democrats, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney sat in front of a fireplace, the president spoke about the importance of working together to get things done.
“Both of us recognize — all three of us,” Mr. Bush said, apparently referring to himself, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer, “recognize that when you win, you have a responsibility to do the best you can for the country.”
The omission of Mr. Cheney, the embodiment of the administration’s approach to national security, raised an intriguing question. As Mr. Bush grapples with the loss of his Republican majority in Congress, how far will he go to reinvent himself, and who — or what philosophies — is he willing to jettison along the way?
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has already been pushed out the door, and there were questions on Thursday about the future of Karl Rove, the political strategist whose divide-and-conquer tactics failed on Tuesday for the first time. Asked what role Mr. Rove would play now, Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, offered little insight.
“That’s a good process question,” Mr. Snow said, “for which I don’t have an answer.”
Snip...
But Mr. Bush demonstrated Thursday that he is not going overboard to adapt.
With his cabinet arrayed behind him, he greeted reporters in the Rose Garden to say that, before Republicans ceded control of Congress at the end of the year, he wanted them to pass legislation codifying his authority to run a once-secret domestic wiretapping program — anathema to many Democrats. Mr. Bush is also pressing the lame-duck Senate to confirm John R. Bolton, whom he installed as ambassador to the United Nations during a recess, circumventing Democrats who oppose Mr. Bolton.
Mr. Snow, the press secretary, was told that did not exactly sound like an olive branch, and he replied, “Let me put it this way, olive branches work in two directions.”
more...
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
