Prez Says “Disgraceful”; Cheney Is “Offended”

Were they talking about the illegal and unnecessary war in Iraq that was engaged in without Congress declaring war? Were they talking about the illegal wiretapping of Americans? Were they talking about using the war in Iraq as a political issue to get votes for Republicans? Were they talking about killing 2524 American soldiers in Iraq for no reason other than to steal Iraq’s oil and to begin pre-emptive strikes on the entire Middle East? Were they talking about the GOP policy of enriching the rich while victimizing the poor and elderly? Were they talking about Cheney getting contracts for his Halliburton Company in Iraq and becoming a war profiteer? Were they talking about FEMA and the Red Cross’s fraud and waste in the Katrina debacle? Were they talking about corruption in the Republican Party? No. None of the above. President Bush said “It’s disgraceful” and Vice President Cheney said “I’m offended” because the New York Times and other newspapers had disclosed that the White House had been tracking Americans’ financial transaction since 9/11 as part of a secret program to find terrorists. And the White House had not sought legal authority to do so. The President, in his patented way of assuming that terrorists are as stupid as he is, opined that, "If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money…and that's exactly what we're doing. And the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror." So terrorists wouldn’t have figured out that spooks were following their money unless they read the New York Times? It’s the illegality of it that the Times (and other newspapers) questioned, you moronic numnut. The fact that it was going on was no surprise to terrorists. "Congress was briefed," Bush said, “And what we did was fully authorized under the law.” Not true. Most members of Congress were not briefed until the White House found out the program was going to be revealed to the public. And no, it was not fully authorized under law any more than the NSA wiretaps were fully authorized under law. They were only authorized in the dream world of the Bush administration, where all wildass fantasies of Republicans are deemed authorized the minute they are conjured up. Disgraceful? You bet. Every day since the GOP overthrew the US government and made George W. Bush dictator has brought new disgraceful acts to light. Offensive? How can one count the ways? Legal? Not a chance. Very little the White House has done, including the 2000 election, has been legal.