The latest attempt to re-frame the President's illegal wiretap program must be attacked immediately and unreservedly. The GOP wants this to be a debate about liberty vs. security. It is not. It is a debate about executive power. Today's
re-branding of the administration's illegal wiretap scheme is a perfect opportunity to make the point. They want a "terrorist surveillance program"? Great. We actually have one right here, and we think it works rather well. It's called FISA.
Mr. President, the only difference between our terrorist surveillance program and yours is that our program doesn't let you (and the executive branch lawyers and functionnaries who serve at your pleasure) unilaterally decide whether to invade the privacy of individual Americans. The only difference between our terrorist surveillance program and yours is that at some point--even if it's after you've secretly spied on an American citizen, even if it's shrouded in total secrecy--you have to convince a disinterested party who you can't fire for disagreeing with you that the spying is (or was) justified.
We think our terrorist surveillance system works pretty well, and we can prove it. We think your terrorist surveillance system doesn't work so well, and we can prove that too. We'd like you to use our terrorist surveillance system to gather intelligence on the actual terrorists who are actually plotting to kill us. We'd like you to use that intelligence to capture or kill them. If you can't do that, we'd like you to step aside and make room for people who are up to the job of protecting the country. Because if you can't even explain -- three days after the fact -- why an American citizen poses a threat to our national security, we don't have much confidence that you understand what national security means.