Colmes challenged Morris as he repeated wiretapping and Patriot Act falsehoods
SUMMARY: Fox News' Alan Colmes repeatedly challenged Fox News political analyst Dick Morris's false claims that "Democrats oppose" "the Patriot Act, the NSA wiretaps, the seizure of bank deposits, [and] data mining."
On the August 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News political analyst Dick Morris reiterated the false claim that "Democrats oppose" "the Patriot Act, the NSA [National Security Agency] wiretaps, the seizure of bank deposits, [and] data mining," adding that "[p]eople would love to vote for the Democrats, except they're worried that they'll repeal the Patriot Act and they'll repeal the wiretap." In fact, while many Democrats and other critics of the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping program assert that the Bush administration is acting in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by conducting surveillance of U.S. citizens and legal residents without obtaining a warrant from the FISA court, those critics have not called for the NSA to halt all surveillance of suspected terrorists. Further, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) was the only Democrat to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, and only nine Democrats voted against the renewal of the act this year.
Throughout the segment, co-host Alan Colmes repeatedly challenged Morris's false claims. Colmes told Morris that "[w]hat Democrats were against was expanding the Patriot Act" and that Democrats do not oppose wiretapping and data mining -- "[t]hey oppose doing it without a court warrant, they oppose doing it without oversight over the presidency."
Morris countered: "Take it on your own terms," adding that "I don't want to get into a debate" because "[w]e did that two weeks ago on the show." As Media Matters for America noted, on the August 21 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Morris did indeed make many of the same false claims, asserting that "the Patriot Act [would be] repealed and the wiretapping program [would be] killed" if Democrats controlled Congress. Media Matters noted at the time that Feingold was the only Senate Democrat to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001 and that only nine Senate Democrats (plus independent Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont) voted against the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act in March. Also, contrary to Morris's assertion, it is only warrantless wiretapping in violation of FISA that critics -- including many Democrats -- oppose.
From the August 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
MORRIS: President Bush is insisting on defending the war in Iraq and defending the war on terror and saying they're linked. Voters do not think they are linked. The latest New York Times poll shows by about 53 [percent] to 41 [percent], they do not believe that they're linked; they believe they're separate. The Democrats oppose both what Bush is doing in the war on terror and in Iraq, and Bush supports what he's doing in Iraq and in the war on terror. The answer is not to go into Iraq for Bush, but to talk about the war on terror. It's far more important to people whether there's wiretapping that protects them from having their airplane blown up over the Atlantic Ocean --
SEAN HANNITY (co-host): Right.
MORRIS: -- or the Sears Tower knocked down --
HANNITY: Than the Iraq issue.
MORRIS: -- than what's going on in Iraq.
HANNITY: All right, let me, let me -- because --
MORRIS: And they see Iraq as unsolvable, they think that on balance we probably should have gone in, maybe, but what are you going to do about it? But the Patriot Act, the NSA wiretaps, the seizure of bank deposits --
HANNITY: Data mining.
MORRIS: Data mining --
HANNITY: See --
MORRIS: -- they all support that, and the Democrats oppose it.
HANNITY: In many, many ways what you're describing is unfolding naturally. If you talk about the war on terror, the Democrats will talk about Iraq, the Republicans will talk about how weak the Democrats are because they oppose the very issues you're discussing here.
MORRIS: That's the first breath, but the second breath is a defense of being in Iraq that turns the voters off.
COLMES: That's an interesting theory, Dick. I want to talk to you about Kerry in a second, but first what you just said about Democrats opposing wiretapping and data mining, they don't. They oppose doing it without a court warrant.
MORRIS: Yeah, OK, OK.
COLMES: They oppose doing it without oversight over the presidency, that's all.
MORRIS: Take it on your -- take it on your own terms, and I don't want to get into a debate.
COLMES: But that's the issue.
MORRIS: We did that two weeks ago on the show.
COLMES: I love debating you, Dick.
MORRIS: But the issue here, is for the Democrats --
COLMES: Right.
MORRIS: -- is that they should be cleaning up their act on homeland security, not opposing the NSA wiretapping without a warrant --
COLMES: They don't. Right.
MORRIS: -- without a warrant, not opposing the data mining --
COLMES: Well, they want to obey the law and the constitution. That's what they're talking --
MORRIS: -- supporting the Patriot Act, and then, fire on the war in Iraq. People would love to vote for the Democrats, except they're worried that they'll repeal the Patriot Act and they'll repeal the wiretap.
COLMES: Well -- I -- You really think people believe --
MORRIS: They'd love to vote for the Republicans, but they're afraid that they're gonna stay in Iraq.
COLMES: Dick, do you think that people really think the Patriot Act has helped stop us being attacked again?
MORRIS: Yes.
COLMES: That that's the thing that stood in the way of us not being attacked --
MORRIS: Yes. There are about 100 polls that say that.
COLMES: -- when we almost had an attack a couple of weeks ago.
MORRIS: There are 100 polls that say that. And by the way, I'm in the middle of finishing up a book that's coming out in January --
COLMES: Which you're now going to promote ahead of time.
MORRIS: -- called Outrage, which I'll promote six months ahead --
HANNITY: What's the book, what's it called?
MORRIS: -- called Outrage and it focuses -- has a whole list of the things that wouldn't be there if we couldn't wiretap and have the Patriot Act. The Sears Tower, the Brooklyn Bridge, a whole list --the cargo ships in the Gulf of Hornez [sic: Hormuz]--
COLMES: And by the way, it wasn't the Democrats against the Patriot Act. They were against expanding the Patriot Act as the Bush administration wanted to do, they wanted to take it to the next level --
MORRIS: I'll give you -- I'll give you -- I'll give you a very simple --
COLMES: -- after they promised sunsetting a number of issues.
MORRIS: A very simple example: There was a thing called Operation Crevice, that was a plan to blow up eight or 10 buildings in London. We nabbed a guy who was the central person when he came in through immigration in the United States. Why? Because he went to his local public library in the United States, used the computer and we monitored it --
COLMES: Right.
MORRIS: -- and it permitted us to nab him when he re-entered the country.
COLMES: What Democrats were against was expanding the Patriot Act.
MORRIS: No, they're against the library provision.
COLMES: As the Bush administration tried to do.
MORRIS: They're against that same library provision.
COLMES: They said they were going to sunset things, which they didn't ultimately sunset.
MORRIS: Anyway, I'm here, and my hat as political analyst and I'm saying that both parties are saddled with one thing that's popular that they believe in and one thing that's unpopular. Iraq is unpopular for the Republicans, popular for the Democrats.
HANNITY: I think -- I think --
MORRIS: Homeland security is popular for the R's, unpopular for the D's. And the candidate that loses the unpopular thing and focuses on the one that's popular can win.
HANNITY: We gotta break, but I'm going to tell you something, Republicans need to drive a Mack truck through the fact that Democrats are pathetically weak on national security.
MORRIS: Absolutely, that's right.
COLMES: That's not true.
Usually when you hear about opposition to the "library provision" it is opposition to the government's asserted right to dig into people's library records. That is, section 215.
Here, Dickie seems to be saying that the Operation Crevice guy's computer was being monitored, which indicates that he's not talking about the "library provision" but instead about the provision allowing roving wiretaps. That would be section 206.
Is Dickie trying to mislead us?
Nahhhh. Couldn't be.
I think it all fits and makes sense now. Morris is revving up the Patriot Act bandwagon, not because of his loathing of terrorists or his love of country, but rather it plays so conveniently into his next book.
Wow, what a surprise. Another pundit pounding the cable talkfest pavement in search of any host who will steer any discussion towards their next book. Whether it's a manufactured issue or some johnny-come-lately problem, or even if it's off the headlines, by gosh, their own self serving interest trumps anything else.
Can we just have a moratorium on any book by any political hack or pundit who claims to have some divine answer from above on how to fix the other side who just bleed awful nasty people that are out to ruin us?
10 years ago Morris would be telling his story on a bar stool, today without a "Fairness Doctrine" asserted by the FCC he may just make it up as he goes, get called on it on national TV, and still behave as though he still is credible.
Amazing?? Our fault!!!
Read Atlas Shrugged? Hey Conservative, does this government not fit the mold of the decaying government of the story. Bush/Cheney and an army of cronies falling over themselves screwing up while stealing the nation blind.
Aynn Rand would be a Democrat?!!
Barry Goldwater would be a Democrat!!
Save Democracy, Vote for a Democrat!!! Or polish up those black boots, and learn to goose-step.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
The other day, I was at a bar while they were playing trivia, and they asked which character sometimes went by the name of "Rusty Shackleford". I knew I had seen the name before but had no idea where!
Now I know.
BTW, the character is Dale Grimmel (sp?), the character from "King of the Hill".
Then what the hell is he doing on a political talk show?
Oh, I forgot. It's Fox. He didn't expect pushback.
I love the way he included the Brooklyn Bridge "plot" on his list of things that the Patriot Act stopped. Like a guy climbing the bridge and trying to cut it down with a blowtorch was a feasible plan.
Give me a break.
How does Dick justify his homosexuality with being such a partisan Republican-lover? He obviously is . . . right? How come none of his Republican talking-head friends out him?
Seriously, you have to give Dick a little credit here - he talked with Hannity (and the other guy) for a full minute without blaming Bill or Hillary Clinton for anything. That must be a new record.
Brian
Probably because Condi vs. Hilary is gathering dust in plactic bins in bargain bookstores anymore. He has new fish to fry with his January 2007 book, apparently.
And for the record, your inference to his sexual orientation is irrelevant and uncalled for.
It WAS irrelevant and un-called for. But it wasn't my fault. It was Hillary's.
I don't think he's Gay. The feet he fell in love with belong to a female prostitute.
I've never heard him say either way, but whenever he talks about how he was betrayed by Bill Clinton, he sounds like a high school girl who got dumped and is still crying about it years later.
I picture him on his couch at night with a half-gallon of ice-cream, reading old memos from BC while tears roll down his puffy face.
Or is he "happily married" like Michael Medved?(wink wink)
And before the rainbow police jump on me, let me make it clear- my comments aren't anti-gay, they're anti-self-hating-other-gay-hating-anti-gay-rights-closet dwellers.
Dude you nailed it. Read my later post on his estrogen induced voice. As for Medved, I don't think anyone can listen to that voice and think he's not on the pink team.
Must have really stung when his female stand-in bit*h-slapped Ann the Man :)
I don't think Colmes has grown anything actually, for he knows his rightful place on this show, no doubt.
He is, in my opinion, a mild embarassment to the liberal side. Seems like a decent and intelligent guy but he is Hannity's counterpoint for a reason. His sniveling, smiling and snorting when blantantly insulted and dismissed by either Hannity or someone from the right, makes most people feel sorry for him.
He coddles and coos most guests from the right, tries to inject humor when he is being made fun of, instead of standing his ground and fighting back with a well placed jab of his own, or at least a relevant fact or two.
And then when he does start to make headway or a valid point, I can just see the producer giving the "hook" sign to Hannity and the director/camerapeople to interrupt poor Alan so almighty Sean can come to the rescue. Then Mr. Colmes, on que and as ordered, puts his head down to his worthless papers on his desk and shuts up until prompted again. Good boy.
It's all rather hilarious, albeit pathetic.
Although I have generally shared some of the expressed feelings about Mr. Colmes essentially being a wimp; I think he deserves some real credit for standing up against Mr. Morris
I've seen far too many liberal politicians and elected officials let far too many republican politicians get away with exactly the same kind of comments.
I wish all liberals would follow in Colmes' footsteps and add the word warrantless when they are criticized as not wanting to listen in on Osama. A few words about the ease of getting even postdated warrants from the FISA court might also be appropriate.
Now if we could only get a few to say that liberals do want to lock up the people who tried to kill us--that's what POW camps and the Geneva convention were all about.
It was great to see Alan Colmes finally grow a pair and standup to Hannity. Hannity is such a dumb bully. I think Colmes should stand up to Hannity more often. Hannity barely has the brains to hold his ears apart.
I think you would do the world a great service, if you would show more of Alan Colmes and much less of Sean Hannity.
Thank you, Scott S. Cooper
How agressive can Colmes be before he finds himself in the unemployment line? The crimes of this administration have been clearly pointed out and can be vigorously defended by the facts already established but if Colmes actually USES those facts, he's sure to be escorted to the lobby by security and handed his last check. Let's face it people, Bush is coddled by the media. They don't want to "embarrass" the president out of respect for the office itself. The only problem with that is the fact that Bush has abused and disgraced the power of the presidency more than ANY of the previous 42 presidents combined.
Can't MSNBC get that hooker on TVthat used to trample on his nut sack so we can get some balance on this guy? He's a joke. When I hear him on Fox, amd then hear Susan Estrich I find myself asking "Who sounds more feminine?" Morris is an absolute tool and is just being used by Fox to bash Dems and the Clintons (just as he used that Hooker to trample on his nut sack).
Then what in the world are you doing in politics at all and going on political talk shows for, Dick? Debating is part of your job. You just don't feel like debating today? Why did you bother showing up to work?
Imagine a teacher coming to school and saying, " I don't want to teach kids today. I taught yesterday."
Or a surgeon at a hospital saying, "I don't feel like operating on anybody today."
Kidding aside, the real reason for him saying that is that he just can't justify what he got caught lying about.
I'd probably say that FOX News may be trying to appeal to moderate Republicans now. I don't know how often Colmes actually says anything right on H&C, but there's been a little bit of a slowdown on FOX bombshells recently. Just some food for thought!
1. I am going to my local bookstore tonight with a tent and be the first in line for Little Dick's new book. It may be cold waiting through the winter months but I want to be first person to be SAFEREST because of his inside info. 2. If Dick thinks he has information which will make us SAFEREST, why wait until January to get this information into the public mainstream? He would be a real patriot to tell us now. Money perhaps!!
P.S. If some terrorist blows me up while waiting at the bookstore, I want everyone to blame America's most well known Dick for allowing this to happen.