Like rats on a sinking ship

Resisting the call of their pied piper, droves of congressional Republicans are fleeing the president’s position on wire tapping and calling for an open debate. It should be no surprise, however, that Dubya’s administration is making every possible effort to avoid progressive action or even the slightest admission of guilt.

…the White House opened the door to talks in the hope of avoiding a full-scale Congressional investigation. According to lawmakers involved in the discussions, a number of senior officials, including Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, and Andrew H. Card Jr., the chief of staff, began contacting members of the Senate to determine what it would take to derail the investigation.

That’s right, the president is trying “to derail” a congressional investigation. Who needs stinking congressional oversight anyway? And judicial oversight? That’s for pussies!

How could Bush justify such a blatant disregard for our constitutionally-ensured balance of powers? "Unfortunately, we're having this discussion," he said of the debate over wiretapping. "It's too bad, because guess who listens to the discussion: the enemy."

Apparently in the president’s Brave New World, you’re either with him absolutely, or a rag head sumbitch. There is no gray area or room for discussion in matters of national security, even if everything we value about American democracy lies in that middle ground.

Of course, “The White House has refused to [further] discuss those talks [with Congress]. Trent Duffy, a deputy press secretary, said the administration ‘does not want to negotiate in the media.’” To clarify: using the media to hammer out one’s own message is fine, but to actually respond to the press’s reports of dissenting ideas is against policy. Yeah, that seems about par for the course. You can’t really blame Duffy for this hypocrisy either – his boss is a professional douche bag.

And still, because aligning oneself with a historically unpopular president on an obviously illegal and unethical platform is not the best election year strategy, a growing number of conservative congressmen are breaking ranks.

The latest Republican to join the growing chorus of those seeking oversight is Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

"I do believe we can provide oversight in a meaningful way without compromising the program," he said, "and I am adamant that the courts have some role when it comes to warrants. If you're going to follow an American citizen around for an extended period of time believing they're collaborating with the enemy, at some point in time, you need to get some judicial review, because mistakes can be made."

Despite the obvious privacy and ethical issues, not every rat has found dry ground. Mike DeWine (aka Ohio Senatorial seat warmer) stepped right in line with the administration’s message.

Mr. DeWine is calling for legislation that would explicitly authorize the wiretapping and exempt it from the 1978 law that created the intelligence court to review classified applications for wiretapping inside the United States. The White House has embraced that concept, because it would take away the uncertainties of judicial review.

I don’t know how this guy can sleep at night. How could one possibly argue that a law expressly designed to ensure judicial oversight for domestic wiretapping does not apply to domestic wiretaps? Proposing legislation to overturn the 1978 law would be one thing, but advocating the stance that the law is not applicable to the exact situation for which it was originally written? That takes balls, Mr. DeWine. For the sake of our country’s future, I hope that as large as yours are, they are equally sterile.