Updated!

When the liberal media has to shore up the reputation of the political hacks in DC trying to pretend to be simple, innocent civil servant (trust me, in DC everyone is out for their personal agenda and fame) you KNOW the media’s propaganda dance for the Dems is on:

JAMES B. COMEY, the straight-as-an-arrow former No. 2 official at the Justice Department, yesterday offered the Senate Judiciary Committee an account of Bush administration lawlessness so shocking it would have been unbelievable coming from a less reputable source.

Actually, it is well known in town (Clarice will have all the dope out) that Comey is politically connected. And when something stretched like this, it is. The flip side of the WaPo observation is it is hard to believe someone like Comey would lower themselves to smearing others for personal gain. But DC is a notorious place where people battle ferociously for top positions and will do pretty much whatever it takes to cash in. So I seriously doubt the WaPo has discovered a rare diamond in the ruff. They are just propping up another Joe Wilson-class fibber.

Addendum: I guess it needs to be also noted that the PURPOSE of the visit to Ashcroft was the fear a terrorist attack may have been in the offing and there was a need for surveillance to protect America. It seems stating the obvious is now required for the BDS driven media who have become so consumed by their Bush hatred they have forgotten 9-11 even happened. Let alone there are people out there right now trying to exceed 9-11 in any manner they can concoct. So getting a surveillance warrant was a case of national security. I guess Comey forgot to mention that minor little detail. And it is clear Comey was a Gorelickite – one who was so afraid of what Americans might do with warrants he was willing to let terrorists free reign in our borders. Just as we did with 9-11. Reporters NEVER affirm the well known fact that many officials are on the record with statements that indicate NSA HAD leads on the 9-11 highjackers, but the old PROCESS (not law) required them to throw them out because one end of the intercept was in the US. Yes folks, we had the leads but the process Comey tried to salvage, and which led to 9-11 not being stopped, got in the way. That is the kind of man Comey is.

Addendum: Since RCP is now linking to this post as a right vs left (Firedoglake vs AJStrata) let me recap all my points on why the NSA program was NEVER illegal. I have a whole category of posts on the subject, but a sampling of one or two will suffice to show that reporting from the NY Times and Washington Post, covering public statements made by FISA Court Judges and government officials, make clear the NSA did nothing different or illegal. The main point is to go back to the NY Times initial story and note that the story was all wrong. It claimed the Bush administration bypassed the FIS Court, when in fact just the opposite was true. Prior to 9-11 (and based on Congressional Records from the Church Commission in the late 1970’s – at the time the FISA law was created) the NSA has always monitored our enemies’ communications. This should be of no surprise since that is their mission.

What was standard practice was to toss out all communications intercepted that had one end of the communication in the US. It was deemed a fail safe way to avoid the issue of using intel in law enforcement cases. This mindset solidified over the years as layers of policies (not laws) encoded this myopic practice. What this meant is we had surveillance of communications between the 9-11 highjackers and their masters overseas leading up to 9-11. These communications where never passed onto the FBI or local law enforcement.

The NY Times story was built around the resignation of a FISA Judge whose statement was the NSA leads “tainted” the FIS Court. Tainting is synonymous with ‘polluted’ which meant the NSA leads after 9-11 where actually going to the court – not bypassing it. There are numerous accounts of the FBI getting swamped with these new leads as Bush tore down the Gorelick wall which was the last incarnation of the blind mindset of ignoring potential terrorists here in country to save the messy details of court cases. Lawyers do love to minimize their headaches.

So what happened was post 9-11 was the NSA leads were now being passed to the FIS Court as the basis for probable cause in obtaining warrants. Until then it required FBI investigations to obtain independent evidence before warrants would be issued. The NSA leads were passed to the chief FIS Court judge for review into warrant applications. No other justices knew of this arrangement – which eventually leaked out and caused the one judge to resign and run to the media (with some Dem Congressional support).

The fact is the NSA was now following a process to vet leads, pass them to the FBI which could obtain temporary surveillance warrants so they could ascertain the threat level faster. This is clearly indicated in the final procedures adopted by the FIS Court which codified this new LEGAL process. Again, it is process issue – not a legal one. What the left cannot admit or face is the fact we need to act on intel to protect Americans. There were plenty of defenders of the old, suicidal process. Their lunatic theory was that protecting Americans took second priority to protecting laws. This is not the Constitutional mandate we have. Government is to protect the life, liberty and happiness of the people here, not some legal process. This is also evident by the FACT that the FIS Court first attempted to re-instate the Gorelick wall and even claimed this was their purpose in life in the one case which was appealed to the FIS Review Court (the court the resides over the FIS Court). The FIS Court lost and the NSA program proceeded. This was the only time in history the FIS Review Court was ever empanelled.

As I said I have nearly 200 posts on the subject and all my findings are traceable to the public record. I offer two (here and here) as just a sampling of what is out there if one looks. The NSA surveillance program corrected an idiotic policy that allowed 9-11 to happen. It is now corrected and virtually no warrants are being rejected. Also, the FIS Court has taken the lead in codifying the program. The NSA never changed one thing it did. All that happened is the leads it uncovered that led back to America or Americans (overseas) were now free to be passed to law enforcement, who investigate them and apply for FIS Court warrants for action. Those who claim otherwise are just ignorant of the facts surrounding this critical issue. And that includes all of the news media. H/T to RCP for the link!

Addendum: I have to respond to my great Ed Morrissey on this issue. While the DoJ report he references may have found some nits, the point is the program was solid and should NOT have been held up just because Comey did a CYA move. My guess (and Comey can confirm as well as the DoJ report) is the results of the analysis were minor adjustments and DID NOT affect on going investigations. With a 60 day turn around the policy adjustments called out in the review could have been done with the program continuing AND any specific cases effected suspended. The Feds are a slow moving group of people who have no desire to take responsibility. Thus Comey’s hesitation was all CYA (cover his butt). It is very clear Bush determined (a) none of the current cases were time critical and (b) the adjustments could be made in time to avoid risk. Comey can attest to these facts NOW. He will dodge these points. Trust me. He is a career CYA artist. There is nothing here and Comey was playing games. Any specific case affected by the DoJ review could have been suspended if necessary. A full up denial was not required. Any issues could have been handled by memos outlining new guidance for warrant applications. The bottom line was Comey did not need to put us all at risk at adjust to the minor fixes in the DoJ report. But he is a Gorelick puppet. He played games with OUR lives. If you want my guess he was one of the sources for the NY Times article which is why he is out there now making waves. This is all pure BS.

Addendum: For all those who keep throwing Comey’s titles out as if that bestows saintly qualities, in this town (DC) everyone has impressive titles. And way too many of them fall to the corruption of power and media attention. For those who need a reminder Comey is not US Representative (like Randy “Duke” Cunningham) so by the title measure he should be less saintly in his lowly position – by comparison. Heck, President is the top title in this country and we all know that doesn’t bestow purity. The titles may sound impressive – but they are all people with their fallacies. Comey is a hack because he ran to Congress and the media to ‘tell his story’ – yet no one else there has had that opportunity? Strange? Not in this town. DC is a brutal power game. The career inhabitants are the worst of the bunch at times. Anyone who pretends otherwise is seriously naive.