Defending Our Democracy: A Bipartisan Effort

Karl Rove's talking points continue to get smashed as Republicans come to the forefront on the spying scandal-

A recent article looks at the many prominent Republicans opposed to Bush's actions-
Political opposites aligned against Bush wiretaps

...Despite coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, [Larry Diamond and Grover Norquist] agree on one other major issue: that the Bush administration's program of domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency without obtaining court warrants has less to do with the war on terror than with threats to the nation's civil liberties...

...[A] number of prominent Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have criticized Bush and the wiretapping without court warrants as a violation of the law and basic civil liberties. So have other well-known conservatives, including former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia. Bruce Fein, a lawyer who worked in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a commentary in the Washington Times last week that Bush should face "possible impeachment" if the practice is not stopped...

...Referring to what some see as a conflict between fighting vicious terrorists and upholding all civil liberties, Norquist said: "It's not either/or. If the president thinks he needs different tools, pass a law to get them. Don't break the existing laws."

And here is a blog post from Sen. Russ Feingold addressing the same issues-
Pre-1776 Mentality

I've seen some strange things in my life, but I cannot describe the feeling I had, sitting on the House floor during Tuesday's State of the Union speech, listening to the President assert that his executive power is, basically, absolute, and watching several members of Congress stand up and cheer him on. It was surreal and disrespectful to our system of government and to the oath that as elected officials we have all sworn to uphold. Cheering? Clapping? Applause? All for violating the law?...

In short, two points:
1- Support for an agressive war on terror is bipartisan.
2- Support for our basic Constitutional principles is even more bipartisan.