#CTGOPBattleRoyale: Scaremongering Simmons vs. The Truth on FISA

by: tparty

Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 11:47:16 AM EDT

As usual, it wasn't much of a fight.

Former Super-Spy Simmons' highly placed intelligence sources seem to have tipped him off to the fact that warrantless, illegal wiretaps were apparently responsible for stopping the recent NYC terror plot. He started out with a Fallacious Fearmongering Facebuster:

"Today's arraignment of Najibullah Zazi in New York City and last week's arrest Hosam Maher Husein in Dallas, both suspected terrorists accused of plotting to use weapons of mass destruction inside America, came as a result of FBI surveillance. These are stark reminders that our enemies are working day and night to kill us. Senator Dodd would have us drop our guard, and his bill undermines President Obama's ability to fulfill his Constitutional responsibility to protect America."

But The Truth came back with a vicious Flying Clothesline of Fact (as reported last week by the New York Daily News):

"The Justice Department, CIA and FBI applied for a flurry of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants, which would allow the agencies to spy on other suspected terrorists in New York, sources said."

Yes, FISA worked.

Simmons then attempted to respond with a weak Lying Leg Drop:

"Telecommunications firms should not be penalized for their cooperation with the government on programs designed to protect Americans in the case of emergency situations where a terrorist attack may be imminent"

But was dropped to the mat for good by his old adversary yet again (as reported this April in the NY Times):

"The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews."

Rob Simmons vs. the Truth: a classic matchup, and one we're likely to see again and again as the #CTGOPBattleRoyale continues.