We need to be told the truth

The more I read about James Comey’s testimony earlier this week, the more questions I have…

Such as; when one considers that John Ashcroft is one of the staunchest republicans to ever walk this earth, and he was against this program being renewed… you have to ask yourself what the hell the program was doing that it turned a tried and trued republican to go against the wishes of a republican president?

Secondly, what exactly is “President” Bush’s role in this distasteful little tale?

The New York Times wrote today that “Americans need to know” who dispatched Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s hospital bed, but the “President” is eluding the question.

At a White House press conference this morning, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked Bush about his role;

“Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff and White House Counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?”

“Kelly, there's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen, and I'm not going to talk about it.”

Ok… then I’ll take that as a yes until I hear a better answer.

If Bush indeed ordered Card and Gonzales to visit Ashcroft in the hospital and make him sign something that he wasn’t legally able to sign, then Bush is complicit in any possible wrongdoings and needs to be held accountable… and it certainly seems that “President” Bush was engaged in a prolonged and willful effort to violate the law, and would have continued if senior members of his own administration forced him to stop by threatening resignation.

Regardless of Bush’s involvement in this pathetic drama though, the long and short of it is that it is high time that the Democrats in Congress blow the fucking lid off of the NSA’s surveillance program (They also need to force Gonzales out the door as well, and Senator’s Chuck Schumer (D-NY) & Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) plan to seek a no-confidence vote on Gonzales is definitely a step in the right direction – but that’s an entirely separate post)

Whatever form the domestic spying program took over those past years was so blatantly illegal and so egregious that by 2004 not even the administration’s most republican members could stomach it any more.

We have a right to know what went on… and we deserve to know.