I Think BushCo Will Withdraw Hayden's Nomination

This MSNBC article is full of interesting stuff. It starts off by referring to the USA Today article which reported that the National Security Agency, with the help of the phone companies, has been building a database of every phone call made in the country. Then the article reported this:

The report came as the former NSA director, Gen. Michael Hayden — President Bush’s choice to take over leadership of the CIA — had been scheduled to visit lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday. However, the meetings with Republican Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were postponed at the request of the White House, said congressional aides in the two Senate offices.

The White House offered no reason for the postponement to the lawmakers.

Hayden, who headed the NSA from 1999 to 2005, would have overseen the call-tracking program during his tenure, USA Today said.

Needless to say, the timing couldn't have been worse for Hayden specifically and the Bush Administration generally. This revelation will undoubtedly produce a huge political shitstorm, meaning that Bush will probably have no choice but to withdraw Hayden's nomination.

Sen. Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appeared to be a bit upset over all this -- he said he would call the phone companies to appear before his committee -- and Senator Pat Leahy was ticked off as well:

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sounded incredulous about the report and railed against what he called a lack of congressional oversight. He argued that the media was doing the job of Congress.

“Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida?” Leahy asked. “These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything. ... Where does it stop?”

The Democrat, who at one point held up a copy of the newspaper, added: “Shame on us for being so far behind and being so willing to rubber stamp anything this administration does. We ought to fold our tents.”

It's been a long time since I've heard anyone accuse the media of doing its job. I found that refreshing.

But here's the unbelievable part of the MSNBC article: "Meanwhile, the Justice Department has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the NSA refused to grant its lawyers the necessary security clearance."

This is going to get very ugly.

UPDATE: Check out this excellent Keith Olbermann interview of Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley.