Quotes of the Morning: Tapped Out

“Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 20, 2004

“You see, Bush had already allowed his not-Constitutionally-allowed wiretaps by April of 2004. In other words, he LIED to you. Say it with me now.. HE LIED, and not just once..”
-Skippy

“One tool that has been especially important to law enforcement is called a roving wiretap. Roving wiretaps allow investigators to follow suspects who frequently change their means of communications. These wiretaps must be approved by a judge, and they have been used for years to catch drug dealers and other criminals. Yet, before the Patriot Act, agents investigating terrorists had to get a separate authorization for each phone they wanted to tap. That means terrorists could elude law enforcement by simply purchasing a new cell phone. The Patriot Act fixed the problem by allowing terrorism investigators to use the same wiretaps that were already being using against drug kingpins and mob bosses.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, June 9, 2005

“The Patriot Act helps us defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all Americans. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, or to track his calls, or to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the tools we're talking about. And they are fully consistent with the Constitution of the United States.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 20, 2005

“The Patriot Act is helping America defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all our people. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Under the act, law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or search his property. Congress also oversees our use of the Patriot Act. Attorney General Gonzales delivers regular reports on the Patriot Act to the House and the Senate.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, December 10, 2005

“You know, Bush keeps saying that we need to renew the Patriot Act to help save us from terror. I’m not sure why. It’s apparent that he’ll just continue to ignore any laws that he doesn’t feel like obeying anyway.”
-Skippy

“’The fact that we're discussing this program is helping the enemy,’ Bush told reporters. ‘This program has targeted those with known links to Al Qaeda.’
The program will continue, Bush said, adding that he has reauthorized it more than 30 times. ‘And I will continue to do so for so long as our nation faces the continued threat of an enemy that wants to kill our American citizens.’"
-Fox News, December 19, 2005

“Now why would we have any problems with domestic surveillance? I mean, that kind of unconstitutional spying doesn’t seem like anything that our government would abuse..”
-Skippy

“Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.”
-New York Times, December 20, 2005

“Oh it probably wouldn’t make any difference anyway. It isn’t like this scandal could have a political impact.”
-Skippy

“The New York Times first debated publishing a story about secret eavesdropping on Americans as early as last fall, before the 2004 presidential election.”
-LA Times, December 20, 2005