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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Heather Wilson Caves to Bush on Warrantless Surveillance

Teafortwo_1According to the Associated Press, Heather Wilson has agreed to rewrite her bill on warrantless surveillance to match the demands of the Bush administration. I'm not making this up. Locked in a neck and neck race in NM-01 against Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid, the incumbent Republican Rep. Wilson's latest action to kowtow to Bush's dictates pretty much destroys any vestiges of validity to her repeated claims that she's "independent" of the administration and "moderate" in her approach. Excerpt from today's AP article:

Wilson offers to rewrite anti-terror surveillance bill more to Bush's liking

CAPITOL HILL The House Intelligence Committee today takes up a warrantless wiretapping bill that could ease a rift between the White House and Republican leaders on one side and some Republican lawmakers.

The proposal by New Mexico Republican Heather Wilson has been rewritten to allow wiretapping without warrants on Americans when the president believes a terrorist attack is "imminent."

As reported in an article published by The Hill, headlined, "Revolt over Wilson bill rocks panel," a number of moderate Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are upset that Wilson has agreed to weaken their efforts to make the administration more accountable to civil and human rights standards by changing her bill to placate Bush and preserve a warrantless surveillance program with few oversight requirements. Excerpt:

Unrest among GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee threatens to overthrow a bill co-sponsored by Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) aimed at altering policies governing federal intelligence-gathering programs.

Citing concerns over civil liberties and program stability, GOP committee members last week forced Sensenbrenner to cancel a markup of the bill that would allow President Bush’s warrantless surveillance program to continue with limited congressional oversight.

Republican members say they have enough votes to replace what they see as an unsavory bill, introduced by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and co-sponsored by Sensenbrenner, with a more palatable one during a scheduled markup this morning. [emphasis mine]

Several GOP and Democratic committee members are concerned that Wilson’s bill would separate oversight of Bush’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) from congressional oversight under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who is spearheading GOP committee movement against Wilson’s bill, said the measure fails to create a solid system for TSP and would instead establish a passive, ad hoc response to terrorist attacks, rather than a steady program with legislative oversight under FISA. Flake said this approach both threatens the stability of intelligence gathering and increases the likelihood of civil liberties abuse.

You really should read the entire article to get a sense of the battles going on between Bush enablers like Wilson and Rep. John Sensenbrenner and more moderate Repubs like Rep. Jeff Flake. I'll have more on this later as the story develops ....

September 20, 2006 at 10:25 AM in Candidates & Races, Civil Liberties | Permalink

Comments

Why am I not surprised? Wilson pretends to be her own person but when push comes to shove she's a Bush backer all the way. I guess she could care less about saving our civil liberties and this move shows it. Flake is a very good rep by the way, a real moderate not like Wilson's pretend version.

Posted by: Old Dem | Sep 20, 2006 11:01:38 AM

This should ruin any chance for Heather to claim she isn't on the Bush team. I hope Madrid uses this over and over to show who Wilson really is. This is horrible!

Posted by: El Norte | Sep 20, 2006 11:17:57 AM

I have never been so proud to be a flake.

Posted by: KathyF | Sep 20, 2006 12:01:40 PM

This is getting very negative headlines nationally about Wilson and many negative quotes from fellow Republicans. What was she thinking?

Posted by: JLC | Sep 20, 2006 12:11:05 PM

KathF: Hurrah for Flakes!

Posted by: barb | Sep 20, 2006 12:26:12 PM

" What was she thinking? Who cares, I just hopes it makes her reelect campaign boat sink a little faster!!!

Posted by: VP | Sep 20, 2006 3:05:19 PM

This should garner every Libetarian vote for Madrid. Bushco has been a Libertarian nightmare.

Posted by: qofdisks | Sep 20, 2006 3:12:21 PM

Perhaps Heather IS being independent.
She is just genuinely a Facist.

Posted by: qofdisks | Sep 20, 2006 3:21:16 PM

gofdisks - good point. I wouldn't doubt Heather's fascist tendencies. So many people who repress their true natures become fascists. We all know the truth about her, don't we?

Posted by: Socorroan | Sep 20, 2006 3:37:29 PM

I really don't know what the hell is going on in Wilson's head right now, and I'm starting to not even care. She used to come off as being fairly moderate, but now... I don't know. It's almost as though she's afraid to disagree with Bush. Like she got weak. Even if that's the case, she really does't have any place in congress. Politicians have to be strong. They need to be capable of saying no to bribes and pressure.

Maybe on the other hand, this is the type of stuff she really does believe in. In that case, she has even less of a place in congress, as the Constitution and Geneva Conventions are pretty specific when they say how things are to be done, and the Constitution does not say "except for Bush," nor do the Geneva Conventions say "except for America."

Posted by: < | Sep 20, 2006 10:59:11 PM

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