# Mitt Romney, shove that wiretap up your tighty righty arse **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916 "2005-09-16T03:12:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/21 "2005-09-18T02:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] Perhaps, but it sounds to me like Mr. Romney is advocating wiretapping mosques just because they are mosques, and tracking students from “terrorist” states just because of their nationality. [QUOTE] And here’s the really ironic thing. Ol’ Mitt will soon discover that most of the conversations inside these mosques are in Arabic, and guess what? Law enforcement agencies have few if any Arabic speakers, so by the time the thousands of hours of conversations get translated, whatever fiendish plot they might have been hatching will have been long completed by the time the Feds get to that particular tape. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/22 "2005-09-18T05:06:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > To return to the OP… > > …assuming the law is followed, I have no problem at all wiretapping mosques. > > And if we have evidence rising to the level of probable cause that the fruits of a crime will be discovered if we wiretap a mosque, _and we don’t_, I’d say that is a breach of duty for whoever is making the decision. > > Right? So we should wiretap because something _might_ go on there? We’re gonna use the wiretap to _get_ probable cause for it? I’m missing something here. I must be reading that incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/23 "2005-09-18T18:25:17Z")
To get a wiretap, don’t you still need a warrant? Imagine going to a judge and saying “I need a tap because I found these swarthy unAmerican looking guys going into a big building”. Good luck getting that warrant 😃 Besides, if a mosque is anything like the churches I’m familiar with, all the tapes would have is a bunch of praying, followed by small talk afterwards. Not very exciting. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/24 "2005-09-18T18:26:42Z")
One more thing. Probable cause does not mean “they don’t look and talk like me”. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/25 "2005-09-18T20:20:36Z")
I’m sure Bricker can speak for himself, but I think some of you should read what he wrote again—slowly. There was something in there about “…if we have evidence rising to the level of probable cause…” And I didn’t take Romney’s comments to say we should necessarily be wire tapping, but that we should be doing _something._ I agree with both Romney, if I have read him correctly, and Bricker. This wouldn’t seem so strange if the war we’re in didn’t have this politacally correct moniker. The truth is that it is a War Against Islamist Extremism. Call it by its rightful name and looking at mosques seems rather sensible, doesn’t it. Again, I’m talking about legal efforts, not illegal. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/26 "2005-09-18T20:42:26Z")
I was just tossing my two cents in. But, there is no rising to the level of probable cause. There either is, or there isn’t. There is no in between. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/27 "2005-09-18T20:51:21Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I was just tossing my two cents in. But, there is no rising to the level of probable cause. There either is, or there isn’t. There is no in between. As I said, I’m not a lawyer, but I thiink the expression means evidence _having risen to the level_ of probable cause. I don’t think there is any disagreement on this point. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916/28 "2005-09-18T21:03:20Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > To return to the OP… > > …assuming the law is followed, I have no problem at all wiretapping mosques. > > And if we have evidence rising to the level of probable cause that the fruits of a crime will be discovered if we wiretap a mosque, _and we don’t_, I’d say that is a breach of duty for whoever is making the decision. > > Right? Correct, but that is basic law enforcement isn’t it? I’m not sure how many people in this thread would have a problem with it as long as probable cause is met. I’m relatively sure it’s a majority though. Unfortunately, Romney left out the qualifiers so we are left with a broad and fairly stupid statement. By the standards given in his speech, we should also be allowed to wiretap churches in case they enourage violence against gays or abortion clinics or follow college students that come from areas with high crime rates. Tis very silly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-shove-that-wiretap-up-your-tighty-righty-arse/321916.md?page=1)