Malkin Naturally Misses the Mark on ACLU

Posted on | January 17, 2006

Michelle Malkin makes a lovely little dramatic claim about the ACLU’s lawsuit which it filed today in federal district court out of Detroit. The ACLU and others filed it in order to stop the NSA carry out George W. Bush’s illegal domestic spying program. The doomsday claim Malkin makes is that the government cannot "connect the dots" and protect us citizens if the ACLU and company sue to take away the government’s ability to get the "dots" in the first place.

Of course Michelle neglects to mention that the ACLU lawsuit is not aimed at shutting down the program in and of itself, but rather to force George W. Bush to actually adhere to the law and get the required warrants needed in order to go ahead and conduct wiretaps either preemptively or within seventy-two hours. There is a secret court designed to protect the interests of national security while at the same time safeguarding the constitutional rights of the citizens.

But I invite Mrs. Malkin to go ahead and justify the spying on gay groups like those who oppose the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, or how a group of Quakers should show up on governmental radar. And if she can justify that, then she can justify the ability for the administration to get a warrant. She never addresses those points. She just gives a blanket apology for the Bush administration for illegal spying. She does not realize that playing the "national security" card does not suddenly give the ruling administration a blank check to do whatever it wants in spite of law and the constitution.

Bush’s intentions may be good and I could give him the benefit the doubt but as the old cliché goes, the road to hell is paved in good intentions. And in Michelle’s case, an empty barrel makes the most noise.