McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too

[Hissyspit]

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/mccain-id-spy-o.html

McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too
By Ryan Singel June 03, 2008 | 5:06:25 PMCategories: Election '08, NSA

If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.

McCain's new tack towards the Bush administration's theory of executive power comes some 10 days after a McCain surrogate stated, incorrectly it seems, that the senator wanted hearings into telecom companies' cooperation with President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, before he'd support giving those companies retroactive legal immunity.

As first reported by Threat Level, Chuck Fish, a full-time lawyer for the McCain campaign, also said McCain wanted stricter rules on how the nation's telecoms work with U.S. spy agencies, and expected those companies to apologize for any lawbreaking before winning amnesty.

But Monday, McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin, speaking for the campaign, disavowed those statements, and for the first time cast McCain's views on warrantless wiretapping as identical to Bush's.

Neither the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001. ...

We do not know what lies ahead in our nation’s fight against radical Islamic extremists, but John McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution.

The Article II citation is key, since it refers to President Bush's longstanding arguments that the president has nearly unlimited powers during a time of war. The administration's analysis went so far as to say the Fourth Amendment did not apply inside the United States in the fight against terrorism, in one legal opinion from 2001.

McCain's new position plainly contradicts statements he made in a December 20, 2007 interview with the Boston Globe where he implicitly criticized Bush's five-year secret end-run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

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[tomg]

1. One more reason, as if we needed any more,

to make sure the Dems control the House, the Senate and, of course, the White House. Obama is going to eviscerate this fascist.

[alarimer]

10. But no Democrat has vowed to end this.

I want to here Obama say he will stop this. He has not (and probably will not) for fear of losing the "national security" vote, even though spying on Americans will in no way make us safer.

[mmonk]

12. He said he will review everything

with the restoration of the constitution in mind. It's one of the reasons I knew I could settle on him and support. He also signed the pledge from the American Freedom Campaign.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Pretty obvious that McCain will be the puppet through which the current

Republican power brokers will operate. McCain's a mere shadow of his pre-2000 self. He's made a Faustian bargin with the Organized Crime Party....he'll surrender his conscience/principles/independence in order to have his shot at the office. He needs their $ and organization to have a chance.

[Doug.Goodall]

3. I'm sure McCain would spy on Americans. He would probably do more than that

I could easily see arrests and detainment of American citizens for being 'suspect' of opposing the Government.

Under McCain, privacy would be a thing of the past. The investigative organizations of the Government would be empowered to run roughshod over the citizens lives.

[ForeignSpectator]

4. "Would" be a thing of the past? It already is... n/t

[Doug.Goodall]

9. War powers used against citizens perpetuated by 100 years of war

[Hissyspit]

5. .

[Supersedeas]

6. McBush in the same ole clothing -- and yet the Free Ride media continues the maverick label

[laststeamtrain]

7. Ha. I thought this thread was going to be about AIPAC. n/t

[DCKit]

8. When did Congress declare "War"?

What wartime powers?

The Republics have gone mad with power.

[Echo In Light]

11. Yeah? Well fuck him

[treestar]

13. McBush, McSame, McWar

Only if you want more of the same can you be for McLame.