Bush is already starting to talk about renewal of the PATRIOT Act, some elements of which are set to expire late next year... by which time he will have spent about a year on his reclaimed throne as Crawford's Village Idiot.
From AP and MSNBC
WASHINGTON - Declaring the Patriot Act a vital tool in the war on terror, President Bush says Congress would place the nation at greater risk of attack if it fails to renew the law's wide-ranging law enforcement powers.
Key elements of the post-Sept. 11 law are set to expire next year and "some politicians in Washington act as if the threat to America will also expire on that schedule," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
"To abandon the Patriot Act would deprive law enforcement and intelligence officers of needed tools in the war on terror, and demonstrate willful blindness to a continuing threat."
Several conservative Republicans have joined liberal Democrats in saying that portions of the law are too intrusive on Americans' lives. They are threatening to allow the provisions to die at the end of next year.
Some want to impose more judicial oversight of how police and prosecutors conduct investigations.
"Our government's first duty is to protect the American people" and the Patriot Act "fulfills that duty in a way that is fully consistent with constitutional protections," Bush said.
Parse that last graf at will.
Is Bush going to make this a campaign issue?
Asked Friday whether Bush was making a campaign issue of the Patriot Act, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president is "going to continue to talk about it" and there are "some clear choices on this issue ... in this election."
Bush's remarks strike a theme that he will return to next week, beginning Monday in Pennsylvania, a state that is key to his re-election hopes.
Assuming that this will be a campaign issue, how will it play out? With many conservatives harboring reservations about PATRIOT, will it do as much harm as good? Will Kerry flip-flop as he tries to neutralize his vote for PATRIOT, or will he simply argue that it was right at the time and then argue for letting the elements in question expire?
Or, will he simply agree with Bush?
(Note to Ashcroft: Remember, you're dinner and a bottle of wine away from getting that DNA sample, dude.)