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All the entries posted on October 09, 2007.
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Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2007 > October > 09
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Terry: “Clinton Better For Pro-Life Than Giuliani”
Christian activist Randal Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, said Tuesday that Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton would be a better president for “pro-life” voters than Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.
Terry, starting a 10-week, 20-state tour in opposition to a Giuliani presidency, issued a statement saying, “As horrifying as it seems, Hillary Clinton would be a better president for the pro-life movement than Rudy Giuliani.”
He added: “Gudy is the GOP’s crazy aunt. Every family has a crazy aunt in the basement. So what do you do with her? Don’t give her the family checkbook; don’t give her the keys to the car; and by all means, keep her in the basement.”
Terry said his mission is to deny Giuliani the White House “at all costs - even if it means Hillary becomes president.”
Christian conservative leaders met recently to discuss whether to back a third party candidate if Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights, is the Republican Party nominee.
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This debate is brought to you by…
The word “Ford” shows up in Dearborn more frequently than the word “Alamo” appears in San Antonio.
Today’s GOP debate site is the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center (probably better than naming it Ford’s Theater and trying to attract GOP presidential candidates).
The center is not far from Ford Drive and the Henry Ford Medical Center and Ford’s headquarters and the Henry Ford Centennial Library and Henry Ford Community College and the Henry Ford Estate and a museum complex simply known as The Henry Ford.
And, as a corporate sponsor of the debate (along with Chrysler and GM), Ford had a few of its newer-fangled vehicles parked at the front door of the debate site. Friendly Ford employees handed out brochures touting the company’s “Road to Greener Miles.”
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Lamar Smith disappointed by FISA Fix
A key Republican is sharply critical of a new Democratic bill that would overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is disappointed with the bill from Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.
“I’m disappointed with the Democrats’ decision to ignore the requests of the director of National Intelligence with regard to FISA modernization,” Smith said. “Rather than responding to the urgent needs of our intelligence community, Democrats are giving unprecedented constitutional protections to terrorists, spies and other enemies overseas.”
The bill “ignores well-established practices governing the collection of foreign intelligence information and will enhance our enemies’ ability to carry out deadly plots,” Smith said.
The measure is another example of how Democrats are unwilling to enact “smart, bipartisan legislation that strengthens national security,” Smith said.
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GOP Debate: Royal nap?
Sign on athletic field adjacent to site of today’s GOP presidential debate in Dearborn, Michigan.
Unfortunately named monarch or commentary on the field of candidates?
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FISA fix from House Democrats
Leading House Democrats believe they have crafted a way to give intelligence agencies more surveillance powers without stepping all over civil liberties.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas., introduced a new bill today that would restore oversight of domestic wiretapping by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The bill seeks to appease the Bush administration by granting the attorney general or the director of national intelligence the authority to apply to the secret court to conduct surveillance of foreign targets or groups of targets for up to one year.
“This bill provides what the director of national intelligence and assistant attorney general for National Security told us they needed-a means to acquire information from telecommunications companies about physical threats to the nation in which the target is overseas,” Conyers said. “They testified that they do not want warrantless access to spy on American businesses, hospitals and libraries, so we are taking them at their word and making it crystal clear that a FISA court order is required to access Americans’ communications.”
But wait just a second, says Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’ s Washington Office.
As drafted, the Conyers-Reyes bill would still allow for the federal government to collect phone calls and e-mails from Americans without an “individual warrant,” Fredrickson said.
And that, Fredrickson said, goes smack against the Fourth Amendment, which requires individual warrants if Americans are involved.
So called “program warrants’ are equivalent to the “21st century version of King George’s heavy-handed intrusions on individual privacy,” Fredrickson said.
“We would not tolerate allowing government agents to sit in our living rooms recording our personal conversations,” Fredrickson said. “We should not permit it simply because the government now has the capacity to monitor remotely and without our knowledge.”
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Rummies for Romney
Across the street from the Dearborn, Michigan site of today’s GOP debate, proof that you can enjoy an adult beverage and support a Mormon for president.
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