Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Knocking Harman

The Blog | Marcy Winograd: Hire Harman for Chair of Intelligence? No, Nancy, No. | The Huffington Post: "There she was -- Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee -- telling Meet the Press (Feb. 12, 2006) that she wished she'd been a lot smarter during her private briefings on Bush's illegal wiretaps. When journalist Tim Russert asked her if she regretted not raising reservations to the wiretaps, Harman said, '... remember we go into those briefings alone, we have no ability to consult staff, we have no ability to consult constitutional experts.'

Did Jane Harman need a constitutional expert to tell her it was illegal to wiretap people's phones without ever once requesting a warrant?

On the subject of the NSA leaks, Harman's response was equally troubling. She told Russert, 'I think it is tragic that a lot of our capability is now across the pages of the newspapers' and she went on to reference those who leaked Bush's illegal wiretaps as 'despicable people.'

I knew we were in trouble. Someone had to challenge Harman."

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