Johnny Rocketseed has had a rough couple of days. Atrios issues a challenge to the right wing blogosphere to prove the assertion that revelation by the NY Times of the NSA eavesdropping scheme harmed national security, as opposed to just adding another layer of tarnish to George Bush’s image. Our man Johnny answered the call. But not very well.
Spotty recommends to his readers Glenn Greenwald, who runs Johnny arguments through the Vegematic. The Wege has a great riff on Johnny’s declamation, too. To add insult to well, insult after insult, Atrios awards Johnny the Wanker of the Day. Spot really recommends each of these links to you, gentle readers, and he will not repeat what has already been well written. There is one teensy little thing Spot would like to add, however.
Johnny has engaged in what Spot’s lawyer friends call alternative theories of pleading. In other words, using different and sometimes contradictory explanations. Johnny says one the one hand, the terrorists probably didn’t know about FISA, even though it has been a public law for thirty years, and on the other hand, they know about it and knew that the warrant requirement slows the feds down. In the latter scenario, we trick ‘em by not getting the warrant! Pretty clever.
Of course, by pleading both sides of the case, Johnny destroys his credibility for either. It is like the goat defense that law professors use as a cautionary tale to law students on the dangers of pleading alternate theories:
I don’t own a goat. If I own a goat, he didn’t eat your cabbages. If he ate you cabbages, they were rotten and therefore worthless.
Spotty says that Johnny Rocketseed suffers from a common advocate’s malady: crusader’s myopia.
Tags: Johnny Rocketseed doesn't understand FISA
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