As President Bush appears to be winning over House Democrats to join their Senate counterparts in granting immunity, President Bush says in this video that it is not enough to wipe out roughly 40 civil liberties lawsuits — citizens need to say “thank you” to the telecom companies for their “patriotic” actions. The fact that the program constitutes a crime under our laws is besides the point. The real issue is who will thank telecoms for not allowing a bunch of laws stand in the way of warrantless surveillance of their customers.
In a video that rivals the puppy throwing incident in Iraq, Bush is shown here rallying the public for a collective act of appreciation. It appears nothing says I Love You to a telecom company so much as legal immunity.
Now the question is, should these lawsuits be allowed to proceed, or should any company that may have helped save American lives be thanked for performing a patriotic service; should those who stepped forward to say we’re going to help defend America have to go to the courthouse to defend themselves, or should the Congress and the President say thank you for doing your patriotic duty? I believe we ought to say thank you.
Of course, the problem is that there is so much to be thankful for. There is the unlawful torture program, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the contempt of Congress by White House officials, the criminal acts of Scooter Libby and outing of Plame. The list of thankless criminal acts goes on and on. If we were really expected to thank each of these people, we would could do little else.
While many citizens may be in less of a thankful mode, it appears that House democrats are looking for a window of opportunity to give into the White House and grant immunity. Click here