Senate Judiciary Committee members yesterday angrily accused the White House of allowing the Senate Intelligence Committee to review documents on its warrantless surveillance program in return for agreeing that telecommunications companies should get immunity from lawsuits.
But the problem is simply this: If you broke the law when it was a law, then you need to face the consequences of that action. Qwest turned down the government's request for information because they thought they would be in violation of that law. Now, all the other telecommunications companies out there are shitting in their pants because they are facing multi-billion dollar, class action lawsuits.
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said yesterday that what the White House did was "not exactly" a quid pro quo....On Friday, White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and ranking member Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.)'s staff "showed a willingness" to include immunity in their legislation. "Because they were willing to do that, we were willing to show them some of the documents that they asked to see."
Sounds like quid pro quo to me Fratto. You show me yours, and I'll show you mine appears to be the way of thinking over there. But the bottom line is, if I kill someone, then later on, murder is legalized, my actions were still against the law at that time, and thus, I've committed a crime.
You'd find me hard pressed to believe that they didn't knowingly break the law.
Travis
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