So they clap at Bush's justification for tearing up the Constitution and violating the laws of the United States of America?
Bush lied about his illegal spying program.
Evidence is here and here.
Bush said: "Previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have."
FACT - BUSH IGNORED THE LAW, OTHER ADMINISTRATIONS FOLLOWED IT.
The White House has made this claim before and the AP debunked it:
McClellan said the Clinton-Gore administration had engaged in warrantless physical searches, and he cited an FBI search of the home of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames without permission from a judge. He said Clinton's deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, had testified before Congress that the president had the inherent authority to engage in physical searches without warrants.
"I think his hypocrisy knows no bounds," McClellan said of Gore.
But at the time of the Ames search in 1993 and when Gorelick testified a year later, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act required warrants for electronic surveillance for intelligence purposes, but did not cover physical searches. The law was changed to cover physical searches in 1995 under legislation that Clinton supported and signed.
And:
Bush said: "Apropriate Members of Congress have been kept informed."
FACT - BUSH BROKE THE LAW BY NOT INFORMING APPROPRIATE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
The non-partisan Congressional research service concluded that the Bush administration broke the law by not informing the full Intelligence Committees. The New York Times reports:
A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concludes that the Bush administration's limited briefings for Congress on the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping without warrants are `'inconsistent with the law.''
Update: Who was the genius who wrote in a perfect applause line for Dems on Bush's social security debacle?