Differences between Dems and Repubs

Dems show true colors yet again

Dems and other liberals: Ok to release classified information that endangers national security as long as there is a story about it for the New York Times, and as long as doing so doesn't endanger the wife of an anti-war administration slamming diplomat.

GOP: Ok to release classified information, well, never.... Though the name of a former clandestine operative might slip out accidentally and provide information to reporters (that isn't classified).

Yup, that's the summary of the current differences between the GOP and the Democrats. Democrats and other liberals (including the resident traitor of Joe User, a certain clueless old liberal) are in a frenzy, and are using that frenzied state to help provide support for a filibuster against extension of the Patriot Act.

I wish that the events of the last few days were happening during the heat of an election cycle. If so, Democrats could explain to the public how they aren't in the middle of a bunch of hypocritical double speak. Demanding that Libby, Rove and anyone else that could possibly be hanged for discussing Valerie Plame with the press be locked away forever without even going through the formality of a trial, and yet screaming that having the President authorize highly secretive eavesdropping will destroy the democracy from within, no matter how vital the information that may be gathered.

At least some on the GOP side are really taking the Democrats to task over this. I hope that the Sunday talk circuit brings a lot of discussion on the topic. Much like what is discussed in the original article clipped below.

Sen. Accuses Times of Endangering U.S.

WASHINGTON - A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants.
"At least two senators that I heard with my own ears cited this as a reason why they decided to vote to not allow a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Patriot Act," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. "Well, as it turns out the author of this article turned in a book three months ago and the paper, The New York Times, failed to reveal that the urgent story was tied to a book release and its sale by its author."
Cornyn did not name the senators in his remarks on the Senate floor.
A call to The New York Times' Washington bureau was referred to spokeswoman Catherine Mathis, who could not be reached immediately.
Times reporter James Risen, who wrote the story, has a book "State of WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," coming out in the next few weeks, Cornyn said.
"I think it's a crying shame ... that we find that America's safety is endangered by the potential expiration of the Patriot Act in part because a newspaper has seen fit to release on the night before the vote on the floor on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act as part of a marketing campaign for selling a book," Cornyn said.
Since October 2001, the super-secret National Security Agency has, without court-approved warrants, eavesdropped on the international phone calls and e-mails of people inside the United States. President Bush said Saturday that the White House had kept the congressional leadership informed, which a Republican lawmaker confirmed.
But several senators cited the NSA revelation as a reason to uphold a filibuster on the renewal of the expiring portions of the USA Patriot Act — the domestic anti-terrorism law enacted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — without getting additional safeguards into the law. Supporters of renewing the law failed to get 60 votes needed to break the filibuster.
Bush on Saturday also attacked the disclosure. "As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk."

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