The White House and its friends in the conservative media would have you believe that Democrats are alone in protesting President Bush's warrantless surveillance program.
For example, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
said on Jan. 22:
Senate
Democrats continue to engage in misleading and outlandish charges about this vital tool. ... It defies common sense for
Democrats to now claim the administration is acting outside its authority. ...
Don't believe the empty spin.Grover Norquist, a long-time conservative leader,
declared the surveillance program illegal:
Referring to what some see as a choice between fighting terrorists and upholding civil liberties, Norquist said:
“It’s not either/or. If the president thinks he needs different tools, pass a law to get them. Don’t break the existing laws."Norquist is the latest Republican to suggest the program is in violation of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and circumvents rules that say
the National Security Agency must obtain a warrant before proceeding.George Will
called Bush's actions a mistake. William Safire
said he sided with Bush's critics. Bruce Fein, former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration, and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute have actually suggested Bush's
personally authorizing the surveillance was
an impeachable offense.
Additionally, at least 11 Republican Senators have publicly questioned the program: Arlen
Specter of Pennsylvania, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, as well as Sam
Brownback of Kansas, Lincoln
Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan
Collins of Maine, Larry
Craig of Idaho, Lindsey
Graham of South Carolina, Chuck
Hagel of Nebraska, Dick
Lugar of Indiana, John
McCain of Arizona, Olympia
Snowe of Maine and John
Sununu of New Hampshire.
The question that should be asked is: what will it take for the 44 other Republican Senators to agree?
***
This item first appeared at
JABBS.