Patterico's Pontifications

12/14/2008

Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater

Filed under: Crime,General,Scum,Terrorism — Patterico @ 11:43 pm



At Newsweek, Michael Isikoff has a long article that reveals who tipped off the New York Times on the NSA’s Secret Surveillance Program: a guy named Thomas Tamm. Isikoff’s article is titled:

As you can see from the picture, it’s not hard to guess how Newsweek answers that question.

But, speaking as someone who believes the NSA surveillance program was probably illegal –but who recognizes that there are legitimate arguments to the contrary — I think he’s a criminal. And Isikoff’s story reinforces my view strongly. Because the article (together with other research I have done on Tamm, set forth below) shows him to be an anti-Bush partisan who didn’t even know the details of the program, but notified reporters in part because of an anti-Bush bias, and a disagreement with other actions by the Bush Administration, some of which were indisputably legal. Isikoff tells us:

Tamm concedes he was also motivated in part by his anger at other Bush-administration policies at the Justice Department, including its aggressive pursuit of death-penalty cases and the legal justifications for “enhanced” interrogation techniques that many believe are tantamount to torture.

So he was motivated to disclose a secret program in part because of a perfectly legal aggressive approach to the death penalty that he just happened to disagree with. Hmmm.

But even if his motives were bad, at least he was disclosing something that he knew to be illegal . . . right? Wrong. For all he knew, the program was perfectly legal — because he didn’t really know anything about it:

But, he insists, he divulged no “sources and methods” that might compromise national security when he spoke to the Times. He told reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen nothing about the operational details of the NSA program because he didn’t know them, he says. He had never been “read into,” or briefed, on the details of the program. All he knew was that a domestic surveillance program existed, and it “didn’t smell right.”

Of course, for all he knew, it would “smell right” if he knew the details — but he felt comfortable ignoring his oath to his country because something that he didn’t know the details of just “didn’t smell right.”

Tamm first notified New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau in the spring of 2004. He wanted the story to come out and help defeat Bush in the presidential race:

Tamm grew frustrated when the story did not immediately appear. He was hoping, he says, that Lichtblau and his partner Risen (with whom he also met) would figure out on their own what the program was really all about and break it before the 2004 election. He was, by this time, “pissed off” at the Bush administration, he says. He contributed $300 to the Democratic National Committee in September 2004, according to campaign finance records.

After the FBI started an investigation into who had leaked the information, Tamm stonewalled the lead agent, and began screwing up at work. He resigned in late 2006 and “began blogging about the Justice Department for liberal Web sites.”

Exactly what is meant by that, Isikoff does not explain. Politico gives a summary of some possibilities, which I’ll expand on in the extended entry.

In August 2007, Tamm’s home was raided — an event that made Newsweek within days . . . and caused conservative bloggers and commenters to investigate Tamm’s online presence. At the Just One Minute blog, commenter “kubob” noted that a Thomas Tamm had left this sarcastically lefty comment about the situation in Iraq at a New York Times blog post in November 2006:

It is not yet a civil war. It won’t be a civil war until there are two armies, one from the north, one from the south. The two armies must wear blue and gray respectively, and must be led by U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. Only then will it meet our definition of a civil war.

And Freeper “mass55th” at this Free Republic thread noted that in July 2007, a “Thomas M. Tamm” of Potomac, MD had left this comment on an Eric Alterman entry at Media Matters:

Corespondence Corner:

Name: Thomas M. Tamm
Hometown: Potomac, Maryland USA

Dear Eric: Is not the administration’s position that they would not permit the U.S. Attorney to prosecute a Congressional Contempt referral an implicit admission that they allow politics to impact prosecutions? They are admitting that they would interfere with the independent judgment of a prosecutor on a specific case. I suggest that this is precisely what the firings of the U.S. Attorneys are ultimately about. Yes, they serve at the pleasure of the president, but they do not prosecute at the pleasure of the president. The White House is guilty of taking the blindfold off lady justice, not just covering her breasts. I am a former DOJ lawyer, for what that is worth.

The conservative commenters’ observations regarding Tamm’s online comments were repeated and amplified by Clarice Feldman at the American Thinker, and later by Newsbusters. As usual, Ms. Feldman had some interesting additional observations, as did A.J. Strata.

(Then there were other postings that were made anonymously, but which seemed to betray an insider’s knowledge of certain key information. Many at liberal sites started to suspect these comments had come from the leaker. On August 1, 2007, a DailyKos diarist noted a number of very detailed and knowledgeable postings by a commenter going by the name “Anonymous” at TPMMuckraker, in this thread. The anonymous TPM commenter started to gain a cult status, and was dubbed “Deep Modem.” On August 29, 2007, a Democratic Underground poster claimed to have found the source for many of the “Deep Modem” posts at TPM: a series of comments left between April 2007 and August 2007 at the website of CREW (“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington”). Whether any of these anonymous comments are connected to Tamm is yet to be determined.)

So why is the guy blabbing now? I think the answer is clear: he knows that any decision to prosecute him will be made under a Barack Obama administration:

Paul Kemp, one of Tamm’s lawyers, says he was recently told by the Justice Department prosecutor in charge of Tamm’s case that there will be no decision about whether to prosecute until next year—after the Obama administration takes office.

Asa Hutchinson, who is identified in Isikoff’s article as a former under secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is now assisting in Tamm’s defense and says that Tamm did not harm national security. At Power Line, Scott Johnson observes:

Given his former position, his opinion might be entitled to some weight. But Hutchinson resigned from his DHS position effective March 1, 2005 to run for governor of Arkansas. The Times’s story was published on December 16, 2005. Isikoff leaves these details out of his very long story and therefore withholds sufficient information for the interested reader to evaluate the credibility of Hutchinson’s assertion.

Aside from this and a few other details, together with the picture used, Isikoff’s article isn’t bad. It’s long, but worth your time.

I’m not holding out any hope that an Obama/Holder DoJ will prosecute Tamm, now that he has confessed all over the pages of a national magazine. The hard left would see it as a betrayal after Obama’s repeated statements that Bush had acted illegally in authorizing the Secret Surveillance Program.

But if Obama and Holder decline prosecution, it will be an outrage. Tamm didn’t know the details of what he was disclosing. He let his judgment be clouded by his lefty tendencies, and his disdain for Bush and his policies — and he violated his oath and endangered national security over a program of which he was almost entirely ignorant.

I can see close cases for determining whether to charge whistleblowers, especially when they are disclosing clearly illegal activity and cannot get out the information any other way. But based on Isikoff’s article, this is not a close case.

You just got your confession. Now prosecute the son of a bitch.

P.S. Frankly, now that there’s a confession, I don’t even see the need to wait for Obama to take the oath of office. You know, any U.S. Attorney could win the case against Blago. Why don’t we give the Tamm prosecution to Patrick Fitzgerald? After all, he’s the only guy in recent memory to cause a New York Times reporter to see the inside of a jail cell. He gets my vote for that reason alone.

60 Responses to “Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater”

  1. […] who leaked details of the Bush Administration’s NSA surveillance program is one Thomas Tamm, Patterico urges prosecution. Normally, I would agree. However, one shocking, sickening detail from the Newsweek piece makes me […]

    Patterico’s Heartlessness [Dan Collins] (7a2640)

  2. in a better time, TeeTe would have to answer to the people and families he put at risk, with none of the legalistic bullshit that we see here….

    of course, TT would likely take exception to the justice meted out by his peers in such a situation, but maybe he should have thought of that to begin with?

    redc1c4 (27fd3e)

  3. hell red, there was a time where what he did would earn him a trip to the gallows.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  4. […] the rest here:  Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater Related ArticlesBookmarksTags Bigger stage: UNCGâ??s hoop dream defies tall odds […]

    wroon.com » Blog Archive » Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater (a08230)

  5. This is the same for all of the leftists. It is all about how they “feel” and nothing to do with the law. They never have to follow the rules if they “feel” the rules are wrong. They don’t worry about changing the rules either since their feelings trump everything else. Now he can be a hero to all of the others who “felt” something was wrong.

    eeyore (0b7526)

  6. […] Patterico’s Pontifications: Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program… At Newsweek, Michael Isikoff has a long article that reveals who tipped off the New York Times on the NSA’s Secret Surveillance Program: a guy […]

    Presidential Race On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Patterico’s Pontifications: Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program… (c4fdbb)

  7. I will just call this criminal Tammpon from now on, cause he’s worth less than that instrument and is a piece of trash.

    eaglewingz08 (296ed1)

  8. Holder will never prosecute Mr. Tamm. This person who put our soldiers and Country at grave risk is cherished by the left . Subsequently. The Media will have a new Hero to defend from the evil Bush Administration- this is a distraction the Obama camp wants to avoid.

    mike191 (aa4b77)

  9. I love how the article keeps using the “domestic surveillance” canard.
    This program consisted of screening calls between other countries and the US. It is the responsibility of the US government to secure its borders. This includes physical and electronic communications, especially in a time of war.

    jpickens (511308)

  10. He’ll probably get a book deal and a movie. Faux lefty patriotism, you know…dissent is the blah blah…speaking truth…blah blah.

    Mossberg500 (9fd170)

  11. Well, Mossberg, the good news is that the book won’t sell, nor will the movie. But that doesn’t stop publishers and filmmakers to continue to create that kind of “artwork.” And since some doofuses believe that reality is best seem in film, it will give more fuel to the fires of mindless partisanship.

    The right thing to do, if you have a conflict of conscience that goes against your oath, is take the consequences…instead of trying to portray yourself as a hero.

    The one thing I have learned about the MSM and many “intellectuals” today is that they allow their hatred of GWB to turn them into very unpleasant people who care about nothing else but that hatred. It’s a warning to people (like me) who don’t care for BO.

    Eric Blair (8ed172)

  12. People who engage in treason and espionage in time of war ought to be executed.

    Dave Surls (957163)

  13. Davw Surls,

    The hard left would go apeshit if this allegedly Noble Whistleblower on Bush’s Illegal Acts were to face the death penalty.

    But, tellingly, the article reveals that’s something he worried about.

    Evidently not enough to keep him from confessing to Michael Isikoff . . .

    Patterico (828df8)

  14. But, tellingly, the article reveals that’s something he worried about.

    He should be. Were I allowed to decide his fate, I would have him slapped in irons, tied down, and burned at the stake.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  15. And libtards had hard-ons over Scooter Libby NOT outing anyone.
    Liberalism is a disease.

    gus (36e9a7)

  16. I think he’s a criminal too. Is there enough evidence to put him on trial? Let’s let a jury decide.

    mojo (8096f2)

  17. Oh look at the lovely hero worship at Lefty firedoglake by way of saying Tamm had no choice because the Bushies did it first:

    What Cheney, Addington, and crew did was nothing short of a treasonous end-run of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the checks and balances put in place to halt such a brazen grab at illegal consolidation of power. They did so deliberately — manipulating the very processes which protect the nation’s most dangerous secrets: They abused the classification system. They deliberately circumvented the FISA court because they knew—they knew—what they were doing would be called out as illegal if anyone with half a shred of commitment to their oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” ever found out.

    Darleen (187edc)

  18. A traitor is a democrat, what a shock. 95% of the American deaths in Iraq were a result of ‘leaks of national security date by democrats and support of terrorism by democrats in congress.

    I read that the terrorist web sites are buzzing with instructions on ‘how to build a bomb’ adn use it. They see the open window for success coming on Jan 21, 2009. Fact is they will be able to bomb, kidnap, and murder without fear of any justice. The can expect the same no action, slap on the wrist, bad boy rants they enjoyed in the 90’s.

    Scrapiron (ce69ff)

  19. […] Patterico’s Pontifications: Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program At Newsweek, Michael Isikoff has a long article that reveals who tipped off the New York Times on the NSA’s Secret Surveillance Program: a guy […]

    Presidential Race On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Patterico’s Pontifications: Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program (c4fdbb)

  20. There is more to the Blago case than Blago. Once he starts talking about who did what, in order to avoid a 20-year sentence, it will matter a great deal who the prosecutor is. Leave Fitzgerald alone.

    Give this one to Giuliani.

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493)

  21. I wasn’t too happy about the little shoe-throwing incident in Iraq. What does it say about the whole effort? What does it say about our security for the highest office on earth? It is really a sad day. Say what you like against George Bush, I believe there is a line you cannot cross. That shoe thrower just crossed it.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  22. Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/15/2008 @ 2:03 am

    Even better than the gallows, would be a late night visit by G.Joubert!

    AOracle (648197)

  23. It’s probably because I’m working on like 2.5 hours of sleep, but I have no idea who that is, AO…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  24. love2008,

    You might want to read up on the actions by Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden and the rest of the Chicago 8.

    DRJ (8b9d41)

  25. I wasn’t too happy about the little shoe-throwing incident in Iraq. What does it say about the whole effort?

    About as much as a 4-year-old’s temper tantrum says about the withholding of between-meal snacks.

    What does it say about our security for the highest office on earth?

    So a journalist disgraces himself, even more egregiously than is normal for his profession, and it’s the Secret Service’s fault?

    By the way, and not that it really matters: What does it have to do with Tamm?

    Jim Treacher (671d28)

  26. That shoe thrower just crossed it.

    And frankly, I’m a little upset the Secret Service didn’t help usher him across that most final of lines…

    Same goes for Obama, btw. Personally I’d shoot first, ask questions later if someone so much as flung a spitball his way…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  27. Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/15/2008 @ 9:13 am

    Hint: Condor!

    AOracle (648197)

  28. The guy definitely has the heroic, look-into-the-distance, head tilt and tight lipped “I spake twoof ta power” confident demeanor about himself. And look at those trees!

    Jack Klompus (cf3660)

  29. Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/15/2008 @ 9:19 am
    Truth Scott. There is a difference between political expression and threatening a President’s life. That man was not representing any right-thinking Iraqi or even the political opposition. His motives seem beyond the usual. What if he hit the President with that shoe? Where did he think he was going to hide from the wrath that would follow? And I agree, it would have been perfectly in order to take him out before he hurled the second shoe. Shock and awe to all enemies of freedom!

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  30. Bush let himself in for some of this by leaving the DoJ full of Clinton holdovers. I’m not referring to civil service positions. The two lawyers who pursued Libby were Clinton appointees reappointed by Bush.

    Mike K (ee3203)

  31. Comment by DRJ — 12/15/2008 @ 9:17 am
    Hello DRJ,
    You must mean “the Chicago 7”. But really, is there a basis for comparison? Throwing shoes at an American sitting President and calling him a “dog” is not a way to express political emotions. The Chicago 7 or 8 did not assault a president! They merely protested against what they felt was judicial bias against them. Not allowing for instance, a trial to be postponed because of an attorney unable to represent his client because he had to undergo an operation was a little mean-spirited. That judge had it coming. But this is not the case here.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  32. That judge had it coming.

    Really? So any judge that makes a perfectly legal ruling that I disagree with deserves such treatment?

    Good to know.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  33. Seems open and shut. If Tamm is a whistle blower he must fear some sort of retribution at his work. Except he admits to purposefully screwing up so thats gone. Also he must have tried to go up his chain of authority, seems he didn’t even try.\
    So no he’s not a whistle blower, he’s a criminal.

    Zaggs (1369a8)

  34. What does it say about our security for the highest office on earth?

    Clearly, when journos are going into POTUS pressers, they need to be screened for shoes. Anything less is a failure.

    Pablo (99243e)

  35. The newsweeklies love whistleblowers unless they blow whistles on Democrats. Linda Tripp was made into a villain when she exposed Clinton as a perjurer, but just four years later, Time honored as “Persons of the Year” three female whistleblowers, who exposed Enron, WorldCom, and the FBI (Coleen Rowley, who is widely viewed as being an unheeded voice before 9/11).

    L.N. Smithee (d29858)

  36. Asa Hutchinson, who is identified in Isikoff’s article as a former under secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is now assisting in Tamm’s defense and says that Tamm did not harm national security.

    Well, that just seals it for me. Hutchinson, IMHO, is a political whore. He damaged his brand once and for all in 2004 when he called off successful Border Patrol illegal alien roundups in SoCal. He thought he could talk his way out of being slammed by John Kobylt (John of “John & Ken” on KFI radio) in this interview. He thought wrong.

    L.N. Smithee (d29858)

  37. 36, LN, Kobylt IS a political whore himself. Read http://www.therealkfi.com for yourself.

    PCD (7fe637)

  38. I fault President Bush and the Justice Department for not prosecuting all leakers of classified information to the maximum–with long jail time. I worked in the missile and radar business for many years–there is no doubt what would have happened to me if I violated my signed promise to protect classified information at all times.
    ***
    Putting some of these losers in orange jump suits in a supermax (with a cell mate named Bubba) would send a good message to others. Start with the out of control ROGUE STATE DEPARTMENT LEAKERS.
    ***
    Rocketman

    John Bibb (a52382)

  39. Comment by Pablo — 12/15/2008 @ 10:35 am
    Not pointing accusing fingers, Pablo. Just reminding us of the reality that anything can happen to the most powerful person on earth. It calls for sober reflections. I am in no way blaming the secret service. But don’t you think they will be scratching their heads about how that happened? First of, is the said assailant really a journalist or a plant?

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  40. Love’s got a fair point, really…

    Granted, he was a credited journalist – apparently – and thus got far, far closer to the PotUS than I’m sure makes the Secret Service comfortable… What if he’d somehow managed to get an actual, effective weapon into the room?

    Their response time was slow (or at least slower than I, a citizen, am comfortable with), or else their attention was lax.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  41. Yes, Scotty. Or what if the President had not seen it coming and got hit on the eye by it? How will that make us look in the eyes of the world? That we can’t even protect our President from a shoe missile. How can we protect our allies from the terrorists who seek means to inflict great harm? It’s a really serious issue. We shouldn’t be in a hurry to wave it off as a mere occurrence. Just watch the press this jerk will get from the Islamic media. He is a freaking hero now. He is going to be their “Joe the Plumber.” They will call him “Ahmed, the shoe-thrower.” How many potential terrorists do you think that propaganda will rally for them? Not good. Not good at all.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  42. “The hard left would go apeshit if this allegedly Noble Whistleblower on Bush’s Illegal Acts were to face the death penalty.”

    No doubt.

    “But, tellingly, the article reveals that’s something he worried about.”

    Well, he has little to worry about…for now. Just like Daniel Ellsberg didn’t worry too much, and Joe Wilson didn’t worry too much.

    But, this country won’t always be ruled by liberals who commit treason and espionage at the drop of a hat, or by soft-hearted Republicans who turn a blind eye to it.

    Someday, people like me will be holding the reins of power, and when that day comes, the Ellsbergs, Wilsons, Tamms of the world will face swift, sudden and permanent justice for their treasonable acts.

    IMO, Tamm’s actions gave the enemy aid and comfort, and he did what he did intentionally, and he ought to be treated accordingly.

    As for the howls of outrage from the Left (hard or otherwise) regarding the legality of monitoring communications during wartime, the liberals monitored ALL overseas telecommunications in both WWI and WWII, and Woodrow Wilson and FDR were both somehow able to escape prosecution for their nefarious deeds, so the lefties/liberals/Democrats can pretty much spare me their hypocrisy.

    If we can monitor communications when there is essentially no danger of Americans being murdered in their own cities by German terrorists, then we damn sure can do it now when Muslim terrorists have already done exactly that.

    Dave Surls (587595)

  43. Or what if the President had not seen it coming and got hit on the eye by it? How will that make us look in the eyes of the world?

    See, it’s retarded crap like that, that will cause me to never again even attempt to support any statement you make. It was idiotic, and displaying an infantile sense of manners.

    I spoke up on your behalf, and you feel the need to go that next, short-bus-riding step. You’re like the short, scrawny guy at the bar that’s had WAY too much to drink and JUST got saved from an ass-kicking by the bigger, stronger guy that happens to be sitting next to you at the bar, and then you pop off with “Yeah! He told YOUR ass, bitch!”

    And then you wonder why you ended up getting your ass kicked…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  44. […] Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater At Newsweek , Michael Isikoff has a long article that reveals who tipped off the New York Times on the NSA’s Secret Surveillance Program: a guy named Thomas Tamm. Isikoff’s article is titled: As you can see from the picture, it’s not hard to guess how Newsweek […]

    Presidential Race On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater (c4fdbb)

  45. PCD wrote:

    36, LN, Kobylt IS a political whore himself.

    I’ll worry about that when he starts setting policy that effects my nation’s security. Regardless of his true politics, Kobylt exposed Hutchinson for the fraud he is. I wish I could find the audio online.

    L.N. Smithee (d29858)

  46. First of, is the said assailant really a journalist or a plant?

    He’s really a journalist and the attendees were screened. I don’t see what there is to scratch one’s head about. Dude took off and threw his shoes.

    Now, this could have been mitigated. There could have been an SS agent within arms reach of every person in the room and dude would not have been able to fire the second shoe. But I don’t think that’s the atmosphere they were looking for. So, Bush could have been kept in a bullet/shoeproof bubble. That’s also not the atmosphere they were looking for.

    Eliminating any possible risk is simply not feasible unless you’re going to keep the POTUS stashed in an undisclosed location.

    Pablo (99243e)

  47. Risen and Lichtblau should be in the same cell with Tamm. How much money did they make off of that story?

    Bill M (217373)

  48. Since Isikoff doesn’t describe it, Tamm doesn’t seem to have made much effort to have availed himself of whistleblowing opportunities within the government apart from his weak ass attempt with his friend who worked in the senate. A similar pattern was shown by the other brave whistleblowers who felt a need to expose illegal national security secrets (things they thought might be illegal) to the media rather than through more appropriate government channels.

    Screw the U.S., it’s all about ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!!!1111111!!!eleventy!!!!!Kyoto!!!!Halliburton!!!!!!!Hanging Chads!!!!!!1111111!!!!

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  49. I know super dissenter Tamm here is all out to stop the EEEEEEEvil Bush from his facist NSA program.I am curious if he still feels this way about it now that the liberal Messiah not only voted for it,but gave the telecoms immunity(also stripping any chance the left had of going after Bush on the Program).


    Obama On FISA: Telecom Immunity Issue Doesn’t Override National Security

    By Greg Sargent – June 25, 2008, 6:13PM
    ]electioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/obama_on_fisa_telecom_immunity.php

    At a presser today, Obama weighed in again on the FISA cave, and suffice it to say that what he said won’t make opponents any less unhappy about Obama’s position than they were already.

    Asked specifically why he’s supporting the current FISA bill when he’d promised months ago to support a filibuster of an earlier version of the bill, Obama suggested flat out that “national security” overrides the question of telecom immunity…

    It’s true that Obama says mitigating things like we need to be “watching the watchers.” But here’s the key quote from him:

    “The bill has changed. So I don’t think the security threats have changed, I think the security threats are similar. My view on FISA has always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people.”

    I have heard little to nothing about this super “fascist” program ever since the leader of the People’s temple of Obama found it was okay since his butt was going to be on the line for protecting this country.

    Bush keeping this country safe over the last 7 yrs. must make a lot of liberals unhappy.I can’t wait for all the spin and double standards over the next 4 yrs. as Obama continues the same programs,pissing off his left wing base,because actually having to be responsible for something is a lot harder than sitting on the sidelines pointing fingers and whining.

    Baxter Greene (8035ae)

  50. Just like Obama bowing to FISA,there have been many
    reports that he is going to carry on the CIA interrogations that were developed in the Clinton/Bush era:

    Out of Sight
    By REUEL MARC GERECHT
    Prague
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/opinion/14gerecht.html?_r=2&adxnnlx=1229230463-4Zi26HtppNdqrsgBXhxgOg&pagewanted=print

    More broadly, liberal Democrats in Congress intend to deploy a more moral counterterrorism, where the ends — stopping the slaughter of civilians by Islamic holy warriors — no longer justifies reprehensible means. Winning the hearts and minds of foreigners by remaining true to our nobler virtues is now seen as the way to defeat our enemies while preserving our essential goodness.
    Sounds uplifting.

    Don’t bet on it happening.

    Mr. Obama will soon face the same awful choices that confronted George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and he could well be forced to accept a central feature of their anti-terrorist methods: extraordinary rendition. If the choice is between non-deniable aggressive questioning conducted by Americans and deniable torturous interrogations by foreigners acting on behalf of the United States, it is almost certain that as president Mr. Obama will choose the latter.

    4 MORE YEARS OF BUSH!!!

    This is an eye opening statement that liberals are sure to hate also:

    And there are signs that Mr. Obama won’t have to confront such a situation. Through American and allied efforts, Al Qaeda has sustained enormous damage since 9/11. Osama bin Laden’s decisive battle in Iraq, where Al Qaeda intended to re-energize its holy war against the Americans among the Arabs, has turned into a military and moral disaster. Arab Muslim fundamentalists have finally started the great debate as to whether it is, in fact, unacceptable to kill believers and nonbelievers in jihad.

    But..But..But I thought Bush made things worse.

    Baxter Greene (8035ae)

  51. love2008,

    I wrote a post about the shoe-throwing guy. That was the place to bring up that topic. Not here. There.

    Patterico (cc3b34)

  52. Thanks Pat. But can you give me a direct link to it please? Thanks again.

    love2008 (1b037c)

  53. […] Patterico’s Pontifications » Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program … Pingback by Presidential Race On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Patterico’s Pontifications: Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program… — 12/15/2008 @ 3:15 am. I will just call this criminal Tammpon from now on, cause he’s worth less … […]

    Presidential Race On Best Political Blogs » Blog Archive » Patterico’s Pontifications » Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program … (c4fdbb)

  54. love2008,

    to save Patterico (and you) the trouble, here it is.

    https://patterico.com/2008/12/14/a-special-comment-with-footwear/

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  55. 45, LN, I don’t trust the cheese pirogi chomping opportunist as far as I can throw him, and I have a long enough history with the fool. He’ll be praising Hutchenson tonight if it made Kobylt look good.

    PCD (7fe637)

  56. […] love traitorous Justice Dept. employees who reveal critical national security secrets to the New York Times (for transparently personal […]

    what’s with the Paulites? « thinking out loud . . . (26ab4b)

  57. Sorry. I think he’s a hero. It turned out to be illegal. You don’t need to have proof or all of the facts to be able to claim whistleblower status. You only generally need reasonable belief, which he had.

    Jim (743658)

  58. How is it illegal to gather intelligence on foreign based threats to the security of the United States, and the lives and property of citizens of same?

    Another Drew (bc69ec)

  59. […] Patterico has a great piece up on what should be done with this particular scumbag. But, speaking as someone who believes the NSA surveillance program was probably illegal –but who recognizes that there are legitimate arguments to the contrary — I think he’s a criminal. And Isikoff’s story reinforces my view strongly. Because the article (together with other research I have done on Tamm, set forth below) shows him to be an anti-Bush partisan who didn’t even know the details of the program, but notified reporters in part because of an anti-Bush bias, and a disagreement with other actions by the Bush Administration, some of which were indisputably legal. Isikoff tells us: […]

    This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » Blog Archive » NSA Surveillance Leaker Identified (2a82b9)

  60. […] For more background on the issue read Newsweek for one, and then for the other side of the story read  Leaker of NSA Eavesdropping Program Revealed: Shocka! He’s a Big Bush-Hater […]

    In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values » Direct as always. Ted Nugent on traitor Tamm. (b4661a)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1171 secs.