The Chorus Is Growing

More and more Republicans are speaking out against the wiretapping program. It is an important step because if it is just the Democrats expressing concern, it can be explained away as partisan attacks.

The NYTs had the following article in today's paper,

When Representative Heather A. Wilson broke ranks with President Bush on Tuesday to declare her "serious concerns" about domestic eavesdropping, she gave voice to what some fellow Republicans were thinking, if not saying.

Now they are speaking up — and growing louder.

In interviews over several days, Congressional Republicans have expressed growing doubts about the National Security Agency program to intercept international communications inside the United States without court warrants. A growing number of Republicans say the program appears to violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that created a court to oversee such surveillance, and are calling for revamping the FISA law.

Ms. Wilson and at least six other Republican lawmakers are openly skeptical about Mr. Bush's assertion that he has the inherent authority to order the wiretaps and that Congress gave him the power to do so when it authorized him to use military force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

There are two issues in this debate that concern me.

The first is the assertion of the Bush Administration that the President can do whatever he wants when prosecuting a war. One of the dark moments of the Lincoln Adminstration was the suspension of Habeas Corpus. There can never be a time when we give ANY president carte blanche.

The second is the suggestion that we are calling for an end to the NSA program as asserted by AG Gonzalez. I believe that most people are just asking for the President to follow the law and go to the FISA court.

One more thing. I am tired of being told that by questioning the President's actions we are endangering Americans. The president himself is endangering our Constitution and the checks and balances our Founding Fathers put into place.