President Bush is apparently on a speaking tour of the US, and apparently the focus is on this “domestic spying” issue. He’s talking a lot about how important it is that we listen to these people, because they are suspected terrorists, and we need to interfere with the terrorists’ plots. I’m ok with all of that, and I suspect most people are. Everyone knows that the FBI uses wire taps and lots of other things to spy on suspects.

The question is not “why are you listening to these conversations?”

The question *is* “why didn’t you get a warrant?”

Too slow and cumbersome? He’s been doing this for years! He’s re-authorized this repeatedly, several times per year, for years. If he were saying “Yes, right after Sept. 11, we wanted to start this program immediately, so I authorized it before we had the warrant because I felt that our national security was on the line” I don’t think anyone would be bothered. But, come on! If he’s asking us all to believe that it takes years to get an answer from a judge about this, he should come out and say it. But he’s not, he knows it’s not true and we wouldn’t buy it. So, the question remains: “Why didn’t you get a warrant?” Hopefully the Senate will be hammering on *this* question next week.

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