Sometimes it is almost pitiful to observe how a politician will humiliate himself in order to stay in favor with those of greater power.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” discussing Bush’s authorization of the warrant-less National Security Agency surveillance operation.
Powell said that he supports government eavesdropping to prevent terrorism. Then he said a major controversy over presidential powers could have been avoided by obtaining court warrants.
Where does this wishy-washy jerk stand there? It’s like, he doesn’t want to say anything that would displease Bush, and he doesn’t want to say anything that would displease Bush’s critics, so he sort of gives both sides some pabulum to digest, in the hopes neither side will really think about what it’s heard.
Next off, Powell claimed that when he was in the Cabinet, he was not told of Bush’s authorizing the warrant-less spying. If he really was not told, then it would seem that Bush lacked confidence in and respect for him. And actually, Powell, when he was in W.’s cabinet, came to have a reputation for being more moderate than the rest of the administration. And he did get ignored/abused because of that. So from that point of view, preposterous as it seems that the Secretary of State was not told such a thing, it rather fits in with Powell’s marionette-on-Bush’s-strings image. That’s a Bush trick anyway. He gets one black in a major position, a black man or woman whom he knows he can mold and use any way he pleases, because to some selfish people the glory they see attached to a cabinet position outweighs standing up for what they know to be right. And with that one subservient lackey black person in a major cabinet position, Bush can ignore all issues related to people of color, defending himself, fatuously, by pointing to his appointment of the subservient obsequious black cabinet member.
And whatever the precise reasons for which Powell was not told of the spying program, it sure makes him look like a woosie, confessing that.
Then the more he goes on in the same pattern, obliquely hinting that Bush handled the matter poorly, but stating that he is completely within his rights doing as he does, the wimpier he looks. Powell said he sees “absolutely nothing wrong with the president authorizing these kinds of actions. My own judgment is that it didn’t seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go get the warrants. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it.”
Well, if he really thought there was “absolutely nothing wrong” with Bush’s actions, what reason would he have to go on and talk about the advisability of getting warrants? Is this because he doesn’t think there’s any principle at stake, but does think that bureaucratic procedure should be followed to the letter because processing it keeps government employees on the payroll, or something? Then he doesn’t point out that in the case of an emergency, there is a law in place which allows the president to order an emergency wiretap with the provision that a warrant for it be obtained within 72 hours. The benefit of this last procedure, obviously, is that the federal government will not feel as if it has carte blanche to spy on any citizen at any time for any reason. If Powell omitted mentioning it because he doesn’t know about it, then he is not qualified to be talking about this matter. And if he didn’t mention it in order to keep his veiled criticism of Bush non-confrontational, then he is a coward.