You know, I never thought I’d have to talk about CISPA again, but here we are. Thanks, Greta. Let’s get started.
For those of you who need a reminder about what the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is, it’s basically a bill that purports to improve cybersecurity but which was described by Infoworld as Big Brother’s Best Friend Forever. After being rightfully shot down, it was brought back as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 (CISA) and is even worse for anyone concerned about privacy rights.
As an attorney, one would think that Greta Van Susteren would have been at least mindful of the problems with the bills. But no. At least not when she has the chance to use them to blame President Obama and Senator Harry Reid for what she suggested are imminent, catastrophic cyber attacks.
Here’s what Van Susteren said on December 19:
Let’s all go off the record for a minute; What’s the next cyber attack? Our nuclear power plants? Banking System? Air traffic control? How about power grid? We are very vulnerable. Blame the president, and blame Senate majority leader Harry Reid, but do not blame House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers, and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, because they did try. They worked together, bipartisan. They worked together to get the House to pass a cyber intelligence sharing protection act, aimed at strengthening cyber security, and preventing attacks.
Now, that would not have stopped this (Sony hack), but at least it would have shown to all of us that our government gives a damn about protecting us, and knows about it. The House cared, and passed the bill. The Senate Intelligence Committee did try, but Senator Reid successfully killed any effort in the senate. So, did President Obama then step in and help? No, he did not get Senator Reid to put it up for a vote in the Senate, that House bill.
So, ask yourself: Where is the leadership? Easy answer: AWOL. There’s no negotiating, no deal.
That’s all kinds of classy, Greta. Instead of pointing out why Obama and Reid did not want the bill passed, instead of questioning why the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed such a bill, you smear Obama and Reid as uncaring and deliberately failing to protect the U.S. And, despite acknowledging that the CISA bill would not have prevented the Sony hacking, you nonetheless suggested that Obama and Reid are to blame for that, too.
This is the kind of “argument” I hear from Fox News talking heads like Sean Hannity or Keith Ablow. But I always thought Van Susteren was better than that. Apparently, I was wrong.
Watch it below, from the December 19 On The Record.