Calling Bullshit on Bush's Defense of Warrantless Wiretaps

Shakespeare's Sister, pinch-hitting for KD at the Washington Monthly, makes the same point I made yesterday--Bush's defense of his actions doesn't make any sense. To summarize the outlines of what seem to me like a very obvious case:

1. Terrorists already knew that we were looking for them and could tap their phone lines.

2. It doesn't matter to them whether their lines are tapped with or without a warrant.

3. It does, however, matter to American citizens whether wiretaps are being made with or without warrants.

So (a) the Times story in no way helps the terrorists, but (b) it provides important information to the American electorate.

This is the kind of unadulterated bullshit we have come to expect from this administration. As I've noted elsewhere, the president is privy to a great deal of information about national security that he can't reveal to us. We've (or some of 'we') have elected (well, sort of) him and thereby granted him certain rights and responsibilities with regard to this secret information about national security. One of the worst things he can do is lie to us about this secret information in order to gain political advantage.

We don't know how this story is going to play out yet, but there are many directions this could go that would, I believe, make impeachment an appropriate course of action.