GOP leaders shift onus to detractors in domestic spying

WASHINGTON - Far from ducking the controversy about a secret domestic spying program authorized by President Bush, top White House political strategist Karl Rove signaled Friday that Republicans plan a full-throated run on the issue in fall congressional elections.

"Let me be as clear as I can: President Bush believes if al-Qaida is calling somebody in America, it is in our national security interest to know who they're calling and why," the White House deputy chief of staff told the Republican National Committee winter meeting. "Some important Democrats clearly disagree."

Shift in strategy Rove's speech, along with similar remarks by RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman and Vice President Dick Cheney, demonstrated a clear shift in strategy by the party and the White House, away from trying to defend the program toward embracing and promoting it.

"I think one of the big choices before the people in 2006 is, where do you stand on this important tool," Mehlman said. "We know that these kinds of tools would have been critical before 9/11, and so that's an important issue that we absolutely are going to talk about."

In December, the New York Times revealed that after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Bush authorized the secretive National Security Agency to eavesdrop on foreign communications inside the United States without court-approved warrants.

Rove, who remains shadowed by a continuing investigation into the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the news media, indicated no retreat from the blistering partisanship that helped the GOP become the dominant party in Washington.

"Republicans have a post- 9/11 worldview, and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview," Rove said. "That doesn't make them unpatriotic, not at all. But it does make them wrong — deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong."

Looking notably slimmer since his legal troubles began, Rove also offered a withering assessment of Democrats' performance on the economy and other issues, saying that Democrats have an "allergy to tax cuts."

In their questioning of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, Rove said, Senate Democrats came off as "mean-spirited and small-minded."

"Our arguments will carry the day because the force and logic and wisdom of the Founders are on our side," Rove said of the party.

Disclosure of the NSA surveillance program outraged many Democrats and some Republicans as well as civil libertarians. Earlier this week, two lawsuits were filed, by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, claiming the program bypasses safeguards in a 1978 law requiring court approval of electronic monitoring of phone calls and e-mails.

The NSA program also spawned at least two congressional inquiries, one upcoming in the Senate and another launched Friday by House Democrats.

"If we let domestic spying programs continue, if we let our president convince us that we are at war — so that he can do what he wants — we will allow to stand the principle that the president alone can decide what laws apply to him," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who chaired the Democrats' first hearing on the matter.

Conyers added that "it really denigrates the very freedom we've been fighting for since the tragic events of September 11th, 2001."

Lack of public outrage So far, polls have not reflected the same sense of public outrage over the program, and several have shown the public largely divided on the issue.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week found 51 percent favored the program as a way to fight terrorism, while 47 percent did not. A recent Pew Research Center poll found 48 percent thought Bush's actions were generally right and 47 percent thought they were generally wrong.

The release this week of another recording purportedly of Osama bin Laden may have renewed public anxiety about the likelihood of another attack.

While Bush is suffering low approval ratings on his handling of the war in Iraq, "there is still a distinction in the mind of the American public between the war on terror and the war in Iraq, and Bush does better on terror," said John Fortier, a political scholar at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

Fear of attack lingers Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, said the lack of public resistance to the NSA program gives Republicans an opening to use it against Democrats in November.

"People are still fearful of an attack, and as long as you have that probability and then Osama resurfacing, it's easy to bring the terror issue from one that's bubbling away to one that's actually boiling, because it deals with people's security," she said.

Bush, who angrily defended the program after it was reported last month, will embark Monday on a week of campaigning to build support for it, starting with a speech in Kansas on the war on terror.

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the NSA, will give a speech at the National Press Club on Monday, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will speak Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bush will pay a visit to NSA headquarters in Maryland.

Questions from Washington Post-ABC News Poll Jan. 5-8, 2006:

6. What do you think is more important right now - (for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy); or (for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats)?
                   Investigate     Respect      No
                     threats       privacy     opin.
        1/8/06         65             32         3
Compare to: What do you think is more important right now - (for the FBI to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy); or (for the FBI not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats)?
                   Investigate     Respect      No
                     threats       privacy     opin.
        9/7/03          73            21         5
        9/8/02          78            18         4
        6/9/02          79            18         3
7. In investigating terrorism, do you think federal agencies are or are not intruding on some Americans' privacy rights?
                   Are     Are not     No opinion
        1/8/06     64        32            4
8. (IF FEDERAL AGENCIES ARE INTRUDING, Q7) Do you think those intrusions are justified or not justified?
                   Justified     Not justified     No opinion
        1/8/06        49              46                5
      
      Q 7/8 NET:   
                   ------ Intrusion --------      Not an        No
                   NET  Just.  Not just.  DK     intrusion     opin.
        1/8/06     64    31       30       4        32           4
Compare to: In investigating terrorism, do you think the federal agencies like the FBI are or are not intruding on some Americans' privacy rights?
                   -----Intrusion-------      Not an        No  
                   NET  Just.  Not just.     intrusion     opin.
        9/7/03     58    36       17            33           8
9. Which worries you more: (that Bush will not go far enough to investigate terrorism because of concerns about constitutional rights), or (that Bush will go too far in compromising constitutional rights in order to investigate terrorism)?
                   Will not go     Will go     Neither       No
                   far enough      too far      (vol.)     opinion
        1/8/06          48           44           6           2
10. According to recent news reports, the National Security Agency has been investigating people suspected of involvement with terrorism by secretly listening in on telephone calls and reading e-mails between some people in the United States and other countries, without first getting court approval to do so. How closely have you been following this story - very closely, somewhat closely, not too closely or not closely at all?
                   ------Closely------      ------Not Closely------        No
                   NET  Very  Somewhat      NET  Not too  Not at all     opinion
        1/8/06     66    20      46         34      21        13            *
11. Would you consider this wiretapping of telephone calls and e-mails without court approval as an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?
                   ------Acceptable------      ------Unacceptable------      No
                   NET  Strongly  Somewhat     NET  Somewhat  Strongly      opin.
        1/8/06     51      35        15        47      14        33           2
SAMPLE: 1,001 adults
31 DEM - 30 GOP - 34 Independent - 5 Other - 1 No opinion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_alito_010906.htm

Pew Research Center Poll for January 2006:

Q.71 Do you think it is generally right or generally wrong for the government to monitor telephone and e-mail communications of Americans suspected of having terrorist ties without first obtaining permittion from the courts?
48 Right - 47 Wrong - 5 No opinion
SAMPLE: 1,503
32 DEM - 28 GOP - 32 34 Independent - 5 No preference
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=267
http://people-press.org/reports/questionnaires/267.pdf

This is a winning issue for us in all red states and some purple.

Yep - as long as the perception is that the surveillance is targeted only to "somebody other than me."

This question is also from the Pew survey. By the way, I've taken to looking at the complete surveys (and posting links, but not commenting much), and have found some unreported trends that would be discouraging to a person who puts stock in polls.

Q.70 Would you favor or oppose the following measures to curb terrorism:

                                                      Favor  Oppose DK/Ref
      Requiring that all citizens carry a
      national identity card at all times
      to show to a police officer on request           57      38     5
           August, 2003                                56      40     4
           August, 2002                                59      38     3
           September, 2001                             70      26     4
      
      Allowing the U.S. government to monitor 
      your personal telephone calls and e-mails        24      73     3
           August, 2002                                22      76     2
           Mid-September, 2001                         26      70     4
                   
      Allowing the U.S. government to
      monitor your credit card purchases               29      68     3
           August, 2002                                32      63     5
           Mid-September, 2001                         40      55     5
      
      Allowing airport personnel to do extra 
      checks on passengers who appear to be
      of Middle-Eastern descent                        57      38     5
           August, 2002                                59      38     3

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=267
http://people-press.org/reports/questionnaires/267.pdf

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