Nominated CIA Chief a RIOT!!!

Bush has nominated General Michael Hayden as the new CIA director. What do I know about him? Not much. I can tell you that the one thing I have seen him do made me laugh so hard I fell off my seat. He was holding a press conference defending the NSA Domestic Spying that was authorized by Bush. You'll have to scroll to the bottom to read the good bit. At the end of the interview this exchange occurred:

JONATHAN LANDAY: Jonathan Landay with Knight Ridder. I'd like to stay on the same issue. And that has to do with the standard by which you use to target your wiretaps. I'm no lawyer, but my understanding is that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American's right against unlawful searches and seizures. GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: Actually, the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That's what it says. JONATHAN LANDAY: But the measure is probable cause, I believe. GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure. JONATHAN LANDAY: But does it not say probable -- GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: No. JONATHAN LANDAY: The court standard, the legal standard -- GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure. JONATHAN LANDAY: The legal standard is probable cause, General. You used the terms just a few minutes ago, “We reasonably believe.” And a FISA court, my understanding is, would not give you a warrant if you went before them and say “We reasonably believe.” You have to go to the FISA court or the Attorney General has to go to the FISA court and say, “We have probable cause.” And so what many people believe, and I would like you to respond to this, is that what you have actually done is crafted a detour around the FISA court by creating a new standard of “reasonably believe” in place of “probable cause,” because the FISA court will not give you a warrant based on reasonable belief. You have to show a probable cause. Can you respond to that, please? GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN: Sure. I didn't craft the authorization. I am responding to a lawful order, alright? The Attorney General has averred to the lawfulness of the order. Just to be very clear, okay -- and believe me, if there's any amendment to the Constitution that employees at the National Security Agency is familiar with, it's the fourth, alright? And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. So, what you've raised to me -- and I'm not a lawyer and don't want to become one -- but what you’ve raised to me is, in terms of quoting the Fourth Amendment, is an issue of the Constitution. The constitutional standard is reasonable. And we believe -- I am convinced that we're lawful because what it is we're doing is reasonable.

That's right! Either he doesn't consider having your phone conversations monitored in this country to be "unreasonable" or he hasn't read the constitution. Either way, he is unfit to be the head of the CIA. When specifically asked if the 4th Amendment said "probable cause" he cut the person off and said "No".

Here is what the 4th Amendment actually says:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. "

It is just another Republican who believes (and unfortunately rightfully so) that if you can get the media to report something, that makes it true. Their insistance that Iraq had WMD's is an example, as is their insistance that saddam and 9/11 were tied in the run up to the Iraq war, and then their denial that they ever said that after it was proven false. You can see it every day on Fox News. The whitehouse says something, and the reporters never verify anything. They just repeat it, like an echo. The truth doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you can get the public to believe.