[andyfox]

"Well I would agree that he has asserted that he has the power to go unchecked, whenever he wants, as long his actions are necessary to national security.... and if that is the case, I don't have a problem with it."

Fair enough. But I sure have a problem with it. Unhchecked power is dangerous. All tyrants claim they are protecting "national security" when doing their dirty deeds. I'm not saying Bush is a tyrant, I'm saying unchecked power is a road to tyrannical actions, paved with good intentions or not.

The FISA court has been quite generous in its interpretation of national security, approving thousands of wire taps while turning down only a handful. Bush could have wiretapped anyone he wanted to and had 72 hours to get approval thereafter. All such requests have not suffered from the court not being able to give approval because of time constraints, as a member of the court is always in Washington for just such reason. There is absolutely no national security reason--security, time, strong possibility of wiretaps being refused by the court--for Bush going around FISA.

That leads to the possibility that there are other reasons for it. Without imputing illicit motives to the administration, one can simply listen to what they are saying. And what they are saying is that the president's powers have been eroded and they want them "restored." So there we are on the road to tyrannical actions/ an imperial presidency.