Do you want to know why the Dems are so bent out of shape over this? Two reasons.
1. They have something to hide (adultery, porn addiction, bribe-taking, whatever).
2. They know that they have used it to get the dirt on political enemies and since that is what they did or would do, they assume that everyone else is just as corrupt as they are.
BTW, in principle, I'm against a blanket ok on spying, eavesdropping, etc, but I'm in favor of authorizing it for specific purposes such as watching terrorists, drug dealers, organized crime.
That's what makes this issue such a loser for Democrats. Very few Americans would be okay with wild, unchecked police state monitoring, however, very few Americans are upset over specific, targeted wiretappings of persons in contact with foriegn Al Qaida facilitators.
So long as the investigatiosn show that this is a limited focus program designed to save lives, then most Americans will simply shrug and say, 'That's fine with us'. If it turns out that the government has been wiretapping political enemies to try and blackmail them, then that's something 100% different.