On "Domestic Spying"

“Domestic spying” – that’s what the MSM is calling the secret National Security Agency program monitoring outgoing and incoming international phone calls of suspicious persons inside the United States. What a great characterization if it’s your aim to mislead the public into believing that the bogey-man Bush is lurking around the corner constantly spying on you. Frankly, the government isn’t efficient enough to monitor every international call, which means they have to choose their subjects and calls wisely. Whether such a program is legal has been covered by our own Bruce Kesler, by Orin Kerr extensively at the Volokh Conspiracy here, and here. Even the New York Times reports that surveillance of international calls is a gray area where the Supremes haven't given us much clue as to whether it's constitutional.

I am thankful that the Senate extended the Patriot Act for six months, because its tools are absolutely essential to our continued fighting of the enemy, however the filibustering that Republican Senators Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), John E. Sununu (N.H.) and Larry E. Craig (Idaho) did against our President, who sought a permanent extension, was absolutely inexcusable. Similarly, those Senators calling for hearings on a top-secret NSA program that has been part of the strategy leading to the United States not being attacked again since September 11 are feckless media sluts who wake up each morning, look in the mirror, and imagine the seal of the presidency emblazoned on their chest. But Americans are no fools, there is a reason we chose Bush over Kerry, Reagan over Carter, Ike over Stevenson, and Truman over Dewey: because when Americans enter the ballot box, they want men who aren’t fickle, who don’t flitter with the wind. Dick Durbin: you’ll never be president.