Steve Doocy Distorts Facts To Advance Conservative Agenda
Reported by Janie - January 18, 2006
Steve Doocy, appearing as a guest co-host on Dayside yesterday, repeated the Conservative talking-point in reference to former Vice President Al Gore's speech on the NSA spying scandal, which while based in truth, does not tell the full story, and greatly distorts the actual events.
During a segment discussing Gore's speech, Doocy said " I think I read somewhere this morning that Jamie Gorelick, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States said that during the Clinton Administration, Mr. Clinton had the authority and that's why it was ok for him to have the warrantless search, physical search, property search, of Aldrich Ames' place."
While the overall premise of Doocy's statement is true, he is muddying the waters in an attempt to both discredit Gore, and provide leverage for George Bush's claim that the NSA spying program is legal and properly precedented.
The issue at hand is whether or not Bush broke the law by ignoring FISA when he wiretapped American citizens without first garnering a warrant. FISA explicitly states that a warrant is required for electronic surveillance, and a warrant can easily be received from a secret FISA court, even 72 hours after the wiretapping process has begun.
Former President Clinton however, did not in anyway violate FISA when he authorized the physical search of Ames' home in 1993, nor was Gorelick incorrect when she made the above statement in 1994. Until 1995, FISA did not cover physical searches, and it was actually Clinton that supported and signed the legislation into law.
There was no correction of these facts, and the viewers were once again lied to from the news channel that purports to be "fair and balanced".
