I Guess I'm in the Majority

64% of Americans, according to Rasmussen, believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States.

Again, this is why I don't link to polls all that much. Because this is A MEANINGLESS QUESTION. I believe the NSA should be allowed to intercept these kinds of calls. I do not believe the President should, or even needs to, break the law in order to do so. And he's admitted to breaking the law. These are just the kinds of numbers that idiots on the Right take and run with, because they think that they view their hero in a good light. But the question has nothing to do with the issue. The issue is whether or not the President is above the law.

The other number in the poll shows that the Noise Machine on the Right has gotten out in front of this issue and spun it.

Is President Bush the first President to authorize a program for intercepting telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States?

Yes 26%
No 48%

It's also meaningless, since the FISA court was set up in 1978 for, among other things, precisely this purpose. Congress authorized that program in 1978. It's the "without a warrant" part, conspicuous by its absence in all the Rasmussen questions, that's the crux of the issue. But the Mighty Wurlitzer of the news media will now print these numbers uncritically, even though, as Americablog points out, this is a terrible number for this broad a question. And it HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ISSUE.