Bush Defends Gov’t Eavesdropping Policy
You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. What I want to say to you, is that I, in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by, my leadership in Washington. I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself.
- Harry Taylor
Finally, someone managed to sneak past Our Glorious Leader’s previously airtight, impregnable security bubble. That this hero actually managed to ask an unscripted, unscreened question only doubles my admiration for Mr. Taylor. For once, someone who doesn’t worship the ground Our Glorious Leader trods upon was allowed to voice his opinion.
No doubt this wasn’t exactly a planned event. Taylor’s stealth ought to be commended, because if the Brown Shirts had been doing their jobs, Taylor would never have seen the inside of the auditorium, much less been handed a microphone. Our Glorious Leader had to have been shocked when he began to understand that Taylor was not gushing the sort of undying devotion he is used to at these highly-scripted and tightly-controlled Republican lovefests.
President Bush, told by a critic he should be ashamed of his policies, defended the government’s secret eavesdropping program Thursday and said he would not apologize for listening in on the phone and e-mail conversations of Americans talking to people with suspected al-Qaida links.
A man who identified himself as Harry Taylor rose at a forum here to tell Bush that he’s never felt more ashamed of the leadership of his country. He said Bush has asserted his right to tap phone calls without a warrant, to arrest people and hold them without charges and to revoke a woman’s right to an abortion, among other things.
He was booed by the audience, but Bush interrupted and urged the audience to let Taylor finish….
Bush defended the National Security Administration’s survelliance program, saying he authorized the program to protect the country.
“You said would I apologize for that?” Bush told him. “The answer is absolutely not.”
Of course, he’s only doing it to protect us from the evildoers, right? Personally, I’d like to buy Taylor a beer. He did what many of us convinced that Our Glorious Leader is Evil Incarnate would love to do. Unfortunately, Taylor can now no doubt look forward to an all-expenses-paid, open-ended vacation at beautiful Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and a lifetime of tax audits by the IRS. Free speech isn’t free, don’tcha know??
