Sorry America, Gotta Wiretap You.

As George Bush sits down with Congress today to begin the process of creating a "compromise bill" on Iraq, it might be good for Democratic leaders to pick up a New York Times and see how good the Administration is at keeping their word:

Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

Rather, they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.

As a result of the January agreement, the administration said that the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program has been brought under the legal structure laid out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires court-approved warrants for the wiretapping of American citizens and others inside the United States.

But on Tuesday, the senior officials, including Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said they believed that the president still had the authority under Article II of the Constitution to once again order the N.S.A. to conduct surveillance inside the country without warrants.

During a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. McConnell was asked by Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, whether he could promise that the administration would no longer sidestep the court when seeking warrants.

“Sir, the president’s authority under Article II is in the Constitution,” Mr. McConnell said. “So if the president chose to exercise Article II authority, that would be the president’s call.”

This inherent authority argument is completely bogus, and it has been practically laughed out of court every time it's been offered. This is essentially a trashing of the rule of law in favor of a strong President, which you can also see on display in today's Wall Street Journal, where a Bush authoritarian argues exactly that. It's an important thing to remember when you hear the media mau-mauing the Democrats and telling them they have to make a deal on Iraq. The President is not interested in deals, he's interested in supreme executive power. He thinks he can continue to defy the law in all sorts of situations, including spying on American citizens without a warrant.

By the way, the reason for this hearing was to look at new legislation the Administration proposed which would essentially save the telecom industry from imprisonment and bankruptcy:

While administration officials, citing national security concerns, have declined to discuss publicly what communications gaps they wish to plug, their proposed legislation seems designed to single out so-called “transit traffic,” purely international telephone calls and e-mail that go from one foreign country to another, but happen to be digitally routed through the United States telecommunications system.

The administration’s proposal would also provide legal immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the National Security Agency’s surveillance program without warrants before it was brought under the surveillance act in January. It would also provide legal protections for government workers who took part in the N.S.A. program.

The Politico is hosting a debate for the Republican candidates tomorrow, and you can submit questions that may get to the air. You might want to ask these authoritarians-in-waiting if they believe there's any check on Presidential power. We've been through six years of a President who would gladly answer "none" right out in the open.