NSA Spying

Cheney thinks domestic surveillance should be an election issue in 2006.

"And with an important election coming up, people need to know just how we view the most critical questions of national security, and how we propose to defend the nation that all of us, Republicans and Democrats, love and are privileged to serve," Cheney said.

I couldn’t agree more.

The key to Democratic success on this issue is forcing the debate beyond the simplistic reasoning served up by Rove, Cheney, and the like. All the talk about pre- and post-9/11 world views is a red herring. This shouldn’t be a debate about the efficacy of wiretaps or even about debate about national security. It should be a debate about the executive branch running roughshod over the most representative branch of the federal government.

The spin coming out of the White House boggles the mind. If Bush and Cheney were so proud of this program, proud enough to make it an election issue, why didn’t they own up to it until they were outed by the press? Despite the administration’s obstinate insistence on implied executive power, their recent concessions to congress suggest that they know they overstepped on this one, even if they're not willing to admit it.

By the way, Kevin Drum has a good argument about the scope of the domestic surveillance program.

--MM