I think most other blogs (but NOT the traditional media) have done a pretty good job of explaining all the angles of the Bush-wiretap scandal. It is probably not legal to monitor the communications of American citizens in this country without a court warrant. The amazing thing is that under the FISA law and FISA courts, you can go to the court 72 hours after you commenced the wiretap to ask for permission. Further, the FISA court is not like walking into the Denver District Court where you can see dirty laundry aired all the time. It is top secret, held in a lock vault-like room, in the center of one of the most secure places in the country.
On the other hand, here is what does amaze me a lot about the scandal...not that it happened (we all know that Bush thinks that laws do not apply to him...just watch AG Gonzales wiggle around: 'the power is contained within the 9/11 war resolution, but we never asked for it specifically because it never would have been given to us)...
No, what is most amazing is the fundamental shift in the political landscape that it has ushered....formerly law and order Republicans, and my favorite anomoly "libertarian-Republicans" are defending this garbage. Party over philosophy. The question becomes does this herald a new era of Republican philosophical shift? I mean, this isn't an issue of grey - where we could argue that Kosovo was more of a European interest (it was), and that the Europeans certainly were more capable and trustworthy to handle it (they were), so we shouldn't be involved in the Balkans (it wasn't our job, it was the Europeans), but Iraq was worth it (again, I disagree, but there are legitimate arguments, once we admit that we need the safe flow of a certain commodity that is black and, well, oily, that global economic interest, including ours, is dependent on a certain level of stability in the Middle East - plus, we can sell all the coca cola and pepsi to those non-alcohol imbibing muslims).
But the wire tapping? Either Atrios is right, and the Republicans are truly now a party of bed-wetters who are very easy to cower (yes, 9/11 was traumatic to the nation, but it did not begin an era where US buildings would be knocked down on a weekly or monthly basis - 3,000 people were killed....a lot for one incident, but statistically not a large number - nearly as many people were killed by Hurricane Katrina, and Republicans still don't seem to wince at the devestation WE are causing to the environment - hmmm...no evidence of WMDs in Iraq, but we HAVE to do something about it...mounting concrete evidence of global warming, but it hasn't been proven yet - I guess like how tobacco executives are still mulling over the connection between smoking and cancer)...
...or the Republicans have shifted ideology - from less government to more and intrusive government...
...or the Republicans are no longer a party of ideology.
All three are true - it just depends on which REpublicans you are talking about. I think that prospect 1 (bed wetters) is possibly true for the public at large....Americans are unjustifiably more afraid following 9/11...oh, I suppose some of it is justifiable (you put the worst possible president in power, who has made everything worse...you should be afraid, but you have nobody to blame but yourself). But the sheiks and mullahs aren't lurking around the corner in Plainview, New York, or Bastrop, LA, just waiting to knock down the nearest grain silo. Al Qaeda plans. Something our current administration is utterly incapable of doing. They think about what they are going to do and methodically plan how its going to work. Just like we did in Iraq...I mean...New Orleans...I mean, wait...oh, the elections...they can plan that just fine.
On the other hand, there is a core of Republicans who have shifted the party of ideology...that part of the party belonging to the religious right has definitely shifted the party, at least the party's thinking....while the majority of Americans did not agree with how the Republicans handled Terri Schiavo, the Republicans pushed ahead because of a small, but very powerful minority within their party.
Finally, there are the pundits and right wing bloggers. When Newt Gingrich is the guy out there making sense, something is wrong.
More later.
Comments