Former President Carter: Rip Rocking Hypocrite

While I rail and rail on Bush for his adventure in domestic spying, we find Former President Jimmy Carter proving what an incompetent and hypocritical bastard he really is:

Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the Bush administration’s domestic eavesdropping program Monday and said he believes the president has broken the law.

“Under the Bush administration, there’s been a disgraceful and illegal decision _ we’re not going to the let the judges or the Congress or anyone else know that we’re spying on the American people,” Carter told reporters. “And no one knows how many innocent Americans have had their privacy violated under this secret act.”

Carter made the remarks at a union hall near Las Vegas, where his oldest son, Jack Carter, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Oh really? How about your very own executive order, President Carter?

EXERCISE OF CERTAIN AUTHORITY RESPECTING ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
EO 12139
23 May 1979

By the authority vested in me as President by Sections 102 and
104 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C.
1802 and 1804), in order to provide as set forth in that Act (this
chapter) for the authorization of electronic surveillance for
foreign intelligence purposes, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1-101. Pursuant to Section 102(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(a)), the Attorney General
is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign
intelligence information without a court order, but only if the
Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section.

1-102. Pursuant to Section 102(b) of the Foreign Intelligence Act
of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(b)), the Attorney General is authorized to
approve applications to the court having jurisdiction under Section
103 of that Act (50 U.S.C. 1803) to obtain orders for electronic
surveillance for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence
information.

1-103. Pursuant to Section 104(a)(7) of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1804(a)(7)), the following
officials, each of whom is employed in the area of national
security or defense, is designated to make the certifications
required by Section 104(a)(7) of the Act in support of applications
to conduct electronic surveillance:

(a) Secretary of State.

(b) Secretary of Defense.

(c) Director of Central Intelligence.

(d) Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(e) Deputy Secretary of State.

(f) Deputy Secretary of Defense.

(g) Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.

None of the above officials, nor anyone officially acting in that
capacity, may exercise the authority to make the above
certifications, unless that official has been appointed by the
President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

1-104. Section 2-202 of Executive Order No. 12036 (set out under
section 401 of this title) is amended by inserting the following at
the end of that section: ”Any electronic surveillance, as defined
in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, shall be
conducted in accordance with that Act as well as this Order.”.

1-105. Section 2-203 of Executive Order No. 12036 (set out under
section 401 of this title) is amended by inserting the following at
the end of that section: ”Any monitoring which constitutes
electronic surveillance as defined in the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 shall be conducted in accordance with that
Act as well as this Order.”.

Jimmy Carter.

Was that another Jimmy Carter who happened to be President?

It isn’t right when anyone does it. My question is, why is the AP so outraged about Bush doing it, but not even able to remotely come close to mentioning Carter doing it? I know. Liberal media bias is a myth and it doesn’t exist, and the fact that Carter’s transgression wasn’t even mentioned is poor reporting, not deliberate omission. I just happen to be better at putting things in context than paid AP reporters.

Oh, and I have a really good bullshit detector.

Disgraceful and illegal. Only when Bush does it.

[tags]ap, carter, domestic spying, bush, intelligence court, fisa[/tags]

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  • justis

    Maybe I’m missing something here, but I don’t see anything here authorizing the Carter administration to conduct wiretaps that circumvent the FISA system. In fact, what this looks like to me is an amendment to a previous executive order incorporating the FISA provisions of 1978. The order you’re citing is Carter officially incorporating the FISA provisions into his previous foreign intelligence program.

    The order specifically states that any surveillance must be conducted pursuant to the FISA. This is indeed an executive order – one that orders his administration to follow the rules of the FISA. So how is this even remotely equivalent to Bush’s complete disregard of the FISA system? I don’t think this is the smoking gun you were looking for.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Actually, Bush’s argument is identical: That FISA gives them the authority to do wiretaps without a warrant. That seems to be the part that has everyone all up in arms now, and in reality, it was Carter in 1979 who started it.

    Not that it makes it right… Just slightly hypocritical of him.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Scratch that last comment. I need to re-read Bush’s justifications. :roll:

  • http://recoveringself.com Melissa

    Hi Vincent! Long time no see! I didn’t even know you were still blogging. I just happened to be browsing Blog-Abouts blogroll and saw you. I use to be SwtGAHunnyB of the Hunny Hive. Well I have a new blog now that I started on Blogger back in December, but quickly decided that I had to get my own domain. So here I am! Glad to see you again. :)

  • justis

    Maybe I’m missing something here, but I don’t see anything here authorizing the Carter administration to conduct wiretaps that circumvent the FISA system. In fact, what this looks like to me is an amendment to a previous executive order incorporating the FISA provisions of 1978. The order you’re citing is Carter officially incorporating the FISA provisions into his previous foreign intelligence program.

    The order specifically states that any surveillance must be conducted pursuant to the FISA. This is indeed an executive order – one that orders his administration to follow the rules of the FISA. So how is this even remotely equivalent to Bush’s complete disregard of the FISA system? I don’t think this is the smoking gun you were looking for.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Actually, Bush’s argument is identical: That FISA gives them the authority to do wiretaps without a warrant. That seems to be the part that has everyone all up in arms now, and in reality, it was Carter in 1979 who started it.

    Not that it makes it right… Just slightly hypocritical of him.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Scratch that last comment. I need to re-read Bush’s justifications. :roll:

  • http://recoveringself.com/ Melissa

    Hi Vincent! Long time no see! I didn’t even know you were still blogging. I just happened to be browsing Blog-Abouts blogroll and saw you. I use to be SwtGAHunnyB of the Hunny Hive. Well I have a new blog now that I started on Blogger back in December, but quickly decided that I had to get my own domain. So here I am! Glad to see you again. :)