Who are the Dems for: Addendum

Here is the exchange between CHRIS WALLACE, host of "Fox News Sunday" and senators, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Charles Schumer. Chris Wallace discussed the controversy about that NSA domestic spying program and the growing debate in Congress over giving the president the powers to win the war on terror while also protecting our civil liberties with McConnell and Schumer. This is the exchange:

WALLACE: Senator Schumer, let me try to wrap this up, because there are other areas I want to move on to. The one other part of this which Senator McConnell has talked about is the Justice Department is going to have a criminal investigation to try to find out who leaked this information. Now, the ACLU says that's cracking down on a courageous whistleblower. How do you feel about the idea of investigating and prosecuting the leaker in this case?
SCHUMER: I think that there should be an investigation. Whenever classified information comes forward, it should be looked at. You know, whenever classified information is leaked, there ought to be an investigation, because it could endanger our security. Having said that, let's not prejudge. Was this somebody who had an ill purpose, trying to hurt the United States, or might it have been someone in the department who felt that this was wrong, legally wrong, that the law was being violated, went to the higher-ups, they did nothing - now it's clear that Mr. Comey and others, serious people who are hardly left-wing ideologues, had doubts about the program - and then, in exasperation, went to the media?
WALLACE: Senator Schumer, you're certainly not going to say exasperation is an excuse for leaking classified information.
SCHUMER: No, no, no. I am saying the type of punishment, the type of investigation - there are differences between felons and whistleblowers, and we ought to wait till the investigation occurs to decide what happened. But I will say one other thing, Chris. To simply divert this whole thing to just looking at the leaker, and saying everything else was fine, is typical of this administration. Instead of examining a problem and saying maybe there's a problem, let's come together and reason on it, they try to divert attention and blame somebody. And that, while it should be pursued, is not the main issue here.
WALLACE: Senator McConnell, I'll give you 30 seconds to respond to that.
MCCONNELL: Chris, can I just make one more quick point? I mean, this is selective outrage here. The Democrats, of course, were completely outraged in the Valerie Plame case that allegedly a classified matter was leaked. And here, you know, the national security was not endangered in that situation. But here, where clearly we're talking about intercepts with people who are communicating internationally and potentially plotting another 9/11, they don't have apparently the same kind of outrage.
SCHUMER: Well, we have to...
MCCONNELL: This is a much more important investigation and should go forward. And I applaud the Justice Department for beginning it.

You can get the complete transcript of the exchange and the rest of "Fox News Sunday" HERE

Bob at Crazy Politico's Rantings, has some additional comments about Schumer and hit the proverbial nail on the head in his article: Let's Use Chuck's Logic. As we say at a Seattle Mariner's game, "There you have the Magnolia Moment!"

Technorati tags: Chuck Schumer, Felons, NSA, Chris Wallace, Mitch McConnell, whistleblowers, ethics, journalists, Opinion