Unspinning The Bush/NSA Scandal

Last night, I did a post on Karl Rove's latest speech. In it, I highlighted one of his quotes, a lie meant to misdirect the American public on the wiretapping scandal. I wanted to discuss it in greater detail. Here again is the quote-

Let me be as clear as I can be: President Bush believes if Al Qaeda is calling somebody in America, it is in our national security interest to know who they're calling and why," Mr. Rove said, referring to the program in which the National Security Agency eavesdropped on conversations without getting a warrant from a judge. "Some important Democrats clearly disagree."

This has been the official strategy of the White House and the conservative media... Deflect away from the real scandal of presidential overreach, ignore the issue of warrants/FISA, and frame the whole debate about a President who simply wants to spy on terrorists and the liberals who want to stop him. So far, the strategy seems to be working; polls show the American public remains wary but ill-informed about the nature of the President's action.

With their ethical standing and the ability to lead in general in the toilet, the Republican party is placing as their main issue for the '06 elections something that's worked for them before- national security. This misdirection will allow them to repaint themselves as the strong, aggressive party on national security... and the Democrats as the weak ones who worry about privacy and don't even want to wiretap Osama bin Terrorist. Statements by Scott McClellan and others in the White House indicate that they are actually glad the Democrats are making a big issue out of the wiretapping scandal. The White House plans to address the wiretapping program head-on, with key speeches and photo-ops planned, including one this Wednesday at NSA headquarters. They want to use the wiretapping program to remind a public (whom they find scared and easily manipulated) that President Bush is the serious War President and that his actions keep us all safe and free. This might be nice if it weren't a lie.

The reality is that this scandal isn't about national security per se (and as a sidenote, if it was, the public should note that the man the White House sent out to give this national security lecture is a man under 'ongoing investigation' in a conspiracy to out a CIA operative for political revenge) . Also, it remains to be seen how much this program is actually helping in the war on terror (see last entry). But that is not the main issue here.

The real scandal is that the President is aggressively overreaching in his powers ('sole organ' for foreign affairs? President Bush, meet Constitution) and has bypassed the legally required court approval for surveillance. This is what Democrats (and numerous Republicans like Arlen Specter, Bob Barr, Grover Norquist, etc) are looking to stop. Not one single member of Congress, not one, believes that the President shouldn't be wiretapping known terrorist agents and no one wants to stop that. Everyone (including terrorists) knew such surveillance was occuring. They just want to know why this activity was done illegally by bypassing the FISA system.

The entire reason FISA even exists is to accommodate the government's surveillance needs, but to do so legally and with accountability. It was created by Congress in response to... the presidential overreaching of Richard Nixon. FISA acts mostly as a rubberstamp, having rejected less than half a dozen warrants in its entire existence; you'd have to be asking for some extremely frivolous wiretap to be turned away. There are also numerous accommodations made for emergencies and wartime- the President can begin wiretaps without the warrant, as long as one is filed within due time. This did not happen. To date, the White House has yet to give a plausible explanation (beyond 'cumbersome' paperwork) of why it had to (as opposed to simply wanting to) go around this 30-year-old, Cold War-tested system of legal surveillance.

So to repeat- NO Democrats object to the notion that "if Al Qaeda is calling somebody in America, it is in our national security interest to know who they're calling and why". None. And, certainly, Americans don't object either. However, they do rightfully object to the President declaring that system was something he couldn't be bothered with, not fully informing the Congress about his actions, and putting himself above the law.

But it would hurt the President to frame the debate honestly, so they lie and misdirect.

There is also the issue that numerous reports indicate the program reached far beyond just known terrorist suspects and have reached into the lives of countless innocent Americans for datamining and to add as many dots as possible to a growing pile. Obviously, the White House also doesn't want the American public thinking of the program in this way.

Democrats, and a growing number of sane Republican allies on this issue, need to point this out and hammer it home to the American people until it's imprinted in our brains. They cannot allow the White House to frame the debate in this dishonest way. If the opposition cannot even properly explain the scandal to the public, then we are in worse trouble than I thought.