Based on the non-response of Rice to Tim Russert on the question of what authority the US President based his decision to wire tap Americans, it seems to me that the President violated the law. Expediency is not an excuse or a basis for authority to violate the constitution.
Bush spoke about this today too: He defended the surveillance plan as legal, saying his authority to approve it came from his constitutional powers as commander in chief. What the heck is this?It gets even Nixonian: In the radio address, Bush said sternly that information about the program had been "improperly provided to news organizations." "As a result," he said, "our enemies have learned information they should not have." Bush's discussion of the program was a dramatic turnabout for a president who tends to stick to his plan: On Friday, he told a television interviewer that speaking out could jeopardize national security.
"Bush said he reauthroized the program 30 times and 'I instend to do so so long as the nation faces the continung threat of enemies wanting to kill american citizens.'"
Posted by: Bush | December 19, 2005 at 12:25 PM
What's hilarious to me is that the Republican's have any more credibility on defense than the Dems at this point. They have been an utter disaster.
Posted by: John Robb | December 19, 2005 at 03:13 PM