Remember when this type of news would drive the Left stark raving bonkers?
The Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy.
That assertion was revealed — perhaps inadvertently — by the department in its response to a McClatchy request for a copy of a secret Justice Department memo.
Back before January 20, 2009, this story would have been front page news on all the major Old Media outlets. CNN, NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, Guardian, you name it, they’d be featuring it. Unhinged editorials would be written, decrying that evil Bush who was taking away American civil liberties. Ever Left side pundit would be screaming this at the top of their virtual lungs. Air America’s 6 listeners would be calling in, and the 3 second delay would be needed on a constant basis. Keith Olberman would being giving special comments for a week, and naming Bush the Worst Person in The World. Elected Democrats would be calling for investigations. Excitable Andrew Sullivan would have been doing his normal schtick, and John Cole would be barking that “this is why he became a Democrat!!!!!!1!!!!! bark bark !!!!! Sock Puppet Glenn Greenwald….well, give Glenn props for usually calling Obama out for these kinds of things, just not this time.
Today? Not so much. A few liberal sites, no major media other than McClatchy. And notice that now the “warrantless wiretaps” include the information that they are about telephone records of international calls, though, these are from the US, rather than ones that originated overseas, and they are asserting that no warrant or oversight is needed, regardless of whether the person making the call from the USA is an American citizen or legal resident.
How things change..
