Fox's Angle distorted Sen. Kennedy's comments on domestic spying to falsely claim that Kennedy said Bush program is legal
SUMMARY: Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle distorted remarks made by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) to falsely claim that Kennedy said the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying program as Bush described it does not violate the law. In fact, the next sentence of Kennedy's statement indicated that he and the Congressional Research Service believe such activities operate outside of the law.
On the January 25 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle distorted remarks made by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) to falsely claim that Kennedy said the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program -- as President Bush described it -- does not violate the law. In fact, the next sentence of Kennedy's statement indicated that he believes such activities have operated outside of the law.
Angle aired a video clip of a January 24 press conference at which Kennedy stated: "When the president goes around and speaks and says we're monitoring calls from overseas from Al Qaeda to the United States, the NSA [National Security Agency] can go ahead and do that now under the law." Angle then added, "Though Kennedy suspects the eavesdropping is far more than that, what he says is legal is what the president says he's doing." But Angle did not inform Fox News viewers that Kennedy specifically cited a Congressional Research Service (CRS) study that concluded Bush had "exceeded the law." Kennedy went on to add, "No one can read their [CRS] declaration about the president's conduct and not question the president's activity."
From the January 24 press conference with Senate Democratic leaders and Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary committee:
KENNEDY: Thirdly, when the president goes around and speaks like he did in Kansas yesterday and says we're monitoring calls from overseas from Al Qaeda to the United States, the NSA can go ahead and do that now under the law.
And fourthly, it isn't the Democrats that say that the president's exceeded the law, it's the Congressional Research Service. They're not Democrats, they're not Republicans, they're independent students of the Constitution and legislation. No one can read their declaration about the president's conduct and not question the president's activity.
From the January 25 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:
ANGLE: After three days of an administration offensive and weeks of debate and accusations, there seems to be some agreement on what is illegal and what is not.
KENNEDY [video clip]: When the president goes around and speaks and says we are monitoring calls from overseas from Al Qaeda to the United States, the NSA can go ahead and do that now under the law.
ANGLE: Though Kennedy suspects the eavesdropping is far more than that, what he says is legal is what the president says he's doing.
BUSH [video clip]: The intercept of certain communications emanating between somebody inside the United States and outside the United States, and one of the numbers would be a -- reasonably suspected to be an Al Qaeda link.
Before the wingers come floating in, declaring "wayada talkin' about, MMFA, Kennedy did say that, where's the 'misinformation,' huh?" I'd like to remind everyone of an accepted definition of "lie," straight from the American Heritage dictionary: "Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression."
Or, as I usually define it, a lie is "a statement made with the intent to deceive."
Angle was lying through his teeth.
I have to call BS on this one. Read the quotes, and then read them again.
ANGLE: Though Kennedy suspects the eavesdropping is far more than that, what he says is legal is what the president says he's doing.
Now highlight everything after the comma. ", what he ( Kennedy ) say is legal is what the President ( George Bush ) says he's doing."
The President says it's legal, and no one has proved otherwise, thus BS.
On another tangent, I am curious about the lack of comment from MMFA on the AG's speech on Tuesday, where he outlined the White House's position on the legality of the NSA program. For a site that nit picks every statement made on Fox News, I would have thought they would have been all over this...
...or could it be that there was no "misinformation" in his speech? Just sayin'
MMFA covers the MEDIA. I haven't seen any MEDIA coverage of Gonzales' speech ... have YOU?
If the MEDIA covers a speech, and engages in DISinformation, MMFA will probably cover it. Can you LINK this speech, so we all can be treated with how the AG is spinning the "legality" of Bush's actions? Thanks in advance.
UPDATE: Found this from Google:
ALBERTO GONZALES: Well, FISA has been very, very important. It's an extremely complicated statute, Jim. And it's been very effective in dealing with terrorists. And we've used it extensively in connection with the war on terrorism. But for operational reasons, there were some issues that made it difficult to use FISA and --
JIM LEHRER: Like what, a timing problem, not enough time?
ALBERTO GONZALES: Again, I can't get into much of the details without divulging much of what the program that continues to remain classified.
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So, it's not that Gonzales is defending Bush with MISinformation. He's stonewalling, giving essentially NO information, and claiming that he can't really discuss the details.
The DEFENSE put forward, at this point, is TRUST US. That's not MISinformation ... it's insanity.
...I left out a whole paragraph in the above post.
What Angle is saying is that Kennedy believes that if the President is doing what he says he is doing, then that is legal.
Kennedy said that the NSA was not violating the law by conducting survellience once authorized by the President.
I don't actually agree with that, but Kennedy did not say the President's authorization was consistent with the law.
"What Angle is saying is that Kennedy believes that if the President is doing what he says he is doing, then that is legal"
I think he's still misrepresenting Kennedy. When Kennedy says "the NSA can go ahead and do that now under the law", that doesn't necessarily mean he thinks the program is legal. "Under the law" could be through FISA (with warrants), as opposed to "outside the law". It sounds to me like Kennedy is claiming that the warrantless program was simply not necessary, because it could have been done through the law. Anybody who knows anything about this story knows that Bush's program violated the law - the only question is whether Bush has the right to do that. If Kennedy really thinks that warrantless wiretaps conform with the law, he needs to catch up.
Do you really think that someone who cites the CRS report thinks that even Bush's version of the story would be legal? It seems somewhat unlikely.
This is what Kennedy was commenting about regarding Dumbya's beliefs.
That just because the Prez says he believes it doesn't make it legal. It's just what the president WANTS it to be, THUS truthiness.
The trolls are out in force everywhere these days.