[MaestroLC]

Well, here is what the Great One has said so far....

What Is the White House Thinking? [by Mark R. Levin]

Is there no principle subject to negotiation? Is there no course subject to reversal? For the Bush administration to argue for years that this program, as operated, was critical to our national security and fell within the president's Constitutional authority, to then turnaround and surrender presidential authority this way is disgraceful. The administration's repudiating all the arguments it has made in testimony, legal briefs and public statements. This goes to the heart of the White House's credibility. How can it cast away such a fundamental position of principle and law like this?

January 17
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Secret Court to Govern Wiretapping Plan 
etc....

[Just sayin]

I pose the idea that this actually came from the Office of Disinformation (who's first memo was that the Office would not be created). ;)

[Zeroisanumber]

Excellent. Warrantless wiretaps are something that I don't like because they eliminate oversight and accountablity. Even having a rubber-stamp special court forces someone somewhere to sign a paper saying who they are, what they're doing, and why. That way if the system is abused, we can go back to find out who asked for what.

[pabianice]

Perhaps Bush has concluded that there will not be any domestic support for the war on terror until we have at least one more 9-11.

[GretchenM]

President George W. Bush has decided ... to put it under the authority of a secret special court, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday.

Translation:

He's tired of the aspects of trying to protect us.

[edsheppa]

Your excerpt seriously misrepresents what the Administration has done. You should have made clear that that they claim to be satisfied with a FISA decision which eliminates the need for the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

I know we here aren't required to fairly represent the articles we excerpt, but we ought to do it anyway.

[miliantnutcase]

Whatever, like NSA will just stop gathering international call data from suspected terrorists. Highly unlikely. Just a smoke screen to appease congress.

[cookcounty]

" the controversial domestic warrantless surveillance program".

Will somebody, somewhere, explain to me HOW ON EARTH cataloguing international phone calls to Peshawar Pakistan constitutes domestic spying?

It aggravates me no end that NO REPUBLICAN is willing to call the press on their brainless parroting of Howard Dean's talking points.

[GOP Poet]

Bookmark

[norton]

I think he's decided he likes the sound of "cut and run"

Except where illegal aliens are concerned - there he'll "stay the course".

[SuziQ]

Why do we assume that there is nothing there to take the place of this program? I doubt it very seriously that the President won't have something in place to keep this country secure. Just the fact that we haven't been attacked again shows that he's serious about the subject.