Be weary of wiretapping issue re: saftey or politics

[RB TexLa]

First we are right to oppose such, it is a clear violation of the law and of our civil rights as Americans. There are liberal, moderates and conservatives that understand this and oppose such actions.

I haven't had a chance to watch much of the Congressional hearings on the matter but have caught some of the highlights from DU and TV news. I have also seen * using this in his political speeches. I think this is as much as anything the reason it is going on. The gop will use anything like this. I can see Rove in the white house saying let's leak out that we are doing this, make them say civil liberties while we scream war and security without addressing anything. It's nothing more than the "why do you hate America," answer to anything they don't have an answer to.

What do we need to do? Show the American people that security can be provided within the current system. I mean really how hard is it to get a judge to issue a warrant for this? If the government goes to a judge and shows some link to terror what judge is not going to say, "ok, take a listen and see if anything is there." I, as many of you don't think there could be much of a problem in getting such court orders. We should question the administration's core reason for doing this outside of the system, not just the legal but the political. Publicly ask why did the President do this, why did he not ask the Congress to amend the FISA law? Ask is it because he knew if there were any changes that were needed to provide safety would be made and take the issue away from him politically?

Point out that the secret program could have only been brought to the attention of the American people by the administration. If a secret wiretapping program is so important why was it leaked out? What other purpose could such a leak serve but a political purpose?

Our leaders should play politics right back with this. A Senator holding up a blank sheet of paper on the floor saying "here is it, Mr. President, write what you want in the FISA law and we'll debate it." This is all about politics, it is using our civil rights and freedoms to do so and we have to fight back politically. This is aimed at those in the middle, so called swing voters, people who may or may not vote, people who aren't political yet can chose to vote and decide close elections. If we are to take back either side of the Congress we have to compete with these voters and we have to fight back on this issue and we have to fight back politically because the GOP has created this as a political issue.