No big shock here, but the media is in a tizzy over John Dean’s testimony on Capital Hill today.  Dean said, among other things, that the warrantless wiretapping is at least censurable.  Dean’s claim to fame is his testimony during the Watergate hearings that ended up with the impeachment of former President Richard Nixon.

What should come to no surprise is the relative silence regarding testimony given Wednesday by five former FISA court judges, all who said the President has the authority to issue wiretap orders in issues of national security.  Specifically, and from the words of Judge Allan Kornblum who wrote the 1978 FISA Act, “If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now.”

A quick search shows how little this news actually made it to the public.  The Associated Press wrote a story on it, or at least the article was circulated by the AP Wire, but the AP quoted Kornblum saying he is “very wary of inherent authority.”  As we all are, but the preliminary hearings should be concerned with the legality of the act and what measures, if any, should be taken into law to limit those powers.

What almost humorous is that the testimony of John Dean, who again doesn’t have specific knowlege related to the FISA Act considering his position within the Nixon White House ended before the FISA Act was written and signed into law, is more credible than, say, testimony from the person who actually wrote the bill or four other judges who presided over the FISA court.

I am certainly not against covering the testimony by Dean, in fact I am for it.  But the media as a whole is doing this entire nation a disservice by trumping Dean’s testimony yet all but silencing the testimony of Wednesday by former FISA court judges including the judge who actually wrote the 1978 FISA Act.  How can we as voters make a decision based upon incomplete information?  Sadly, I think that’s the point of trumping up one testimony critical of the program and hardly mentioning testimony that supports the President.

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator linked with Watergate figure Dean at hearing on Bush censure...