Political Quotes

“this morning the statement was made by the President in the Oval Office that he will refuse to sign a temporary extension of the current FISA law. This is a statement from the person who wants to unite, not divide. This is part of the Orwellian-speak we have had for 7 years out of the White House. Let's be very clear. President Bush, obviously, is more interested in politicizing intelligence than finding solutions to the problems we are facing in this difficult situation. Today, he continues to try to bully Congress. Let's not forget that we would not even be discussing this issue if not for his actions. What were some of those actions? In their unyielding efforts to expand Presidential powers, President Bush and Vice President Cheney created a system to conduct wiretapping, eavesdropping--including on American citizens--outside the bounds of longstanding Federal law. The President could easily have come to us and said: Let's change this law, and we would have gone along with probably little effort. But, no, he did not do that. He just went around the law, and when we passed the law to try to change it, he went around that too. Congress has repeatedly amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to reflect new technology and the legitimate needs of the intelligence community. We have done that often and for good reason.…”