U.S. President George W. Bush answers a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington December 19, 2005. Bush vowed on Monday to authorize more eavesdropping on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists and said he believed a probe was underway into who committed ‘the shameful act’ of revealing the covert program.

The ASSociated Press has Bush Says NSA Surveillance Necessary, Legal

President Bush, brushing aside bipartisan criticism in Congress, said Monday he approved spying on suspected terrorists without court orders because it was “a necessary part of my job to protect” Americans from attack. The president said he would continue the program “for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens,” and added it included safeguards to protect civil liberties.

The Democrats and the MSM are so quick to label President Bush as an authoritarian power grabbing despot.

Congressional leaders were briefed over a dozen times. If there was such deep concern from the Congress why was the program allowed to proceed without congressional rancor?

Why did the New York Times LEAK the story just prior to the Senate vote on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act?

Do you think the Democrats and MSM want Bush to fail?

YOU THINK!

Bush bristled at a year-end news conference when asked whether there are any limits on presidential power in wartime.

“I just described limits on this particular program, and that’s what’s important for the American people to understand,” Bush said.

Raising his voice, Bush challenged Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton _ without naming them _ to allow a final vote on legislation renewing the anti-terror Patriot Act. “I want senators from New York or Los Angeles or Las Vegas to explain why these cities are safer” without the extension, he said.

Reid represents Nevada; Clinton is a New York senator, and both helped block passage of the legislation in the Senate last week.

“In a war on terror we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment,” he said.

Indeed!

Come on Hillary – PUT UP OR SHUT UP

And Feinstein, Boxer, Schumer, Reid………

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales speaks from the White House on morning news shows, Monday, Dec. 19, 2005, about President Bush’s use of domestic eavesdropping. Democrats and Republicans called separately Sunday for congressional investigations into Bush’s decision after Sept. 11 to allow domestic eavesdropping without court approval.

Reuters has Gonzales: War powers authorized eavesdropping

President George W. Bush’s decision to eavesdrop on people within the United States was backed by the U.S. Congress’ authorization of military force after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Monday.

“There were many people, many lawyers, within the administration who advised the president that he had inherent authority as commander in chief under the Constitution to engage in this kind of signals intelligence of our enemy,” Gonzales said in an interview with CNN.

“We also believe that the authorization to use force which was passed by the Congress in the days following the attacks of September 11th constituted additional authorization for the president to engage in this kind of” electronic surveillance, he said.

Gonzales’ comments were the latest effort by the administration to defend a covert domestic spying program first reported by The New York Times on Friday. It was the first time the Bush administration has indicated what specific legal grounds it based its actions on.

The Democrats “OUTRAGE” is political posturing.

Feingold wants to differentiate himself from Hillary and ingratiate himself with the LEFT.

America is safer due to this surveillance and information was obtained in a timely manner – without harm to American civil liberties.

After initially refusing to comment on The New York Times report, Bush said on Saturday that after the September 11 attacks, he had authorized the National Security Agency “to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated Bush’s statement that the wiretapping of telephone conversations and other communications was legal and did not violate the U.S. Constitution.

A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without court approval.

Gonzales said Congress had granted an exception when it authorized the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force.”

“The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provides that you must get a court order to engage in electronic surveillance of the type that the president talked about on Saturday, except as otherwise authorized by Congress,” he told CNN.

“We believe that other authorization by Congress exists in the authorization of the use of military force that was passed by the Congress in the days after September 11,” he added.

If the Democrats continue to have a concern sue on behalf of the terrorist scum that threatened hostile actions against the government of the United States. Go ahead and see what the United Supreme Court holds.

Flap handicaps NO congressional hearings into this matter.