Around mid-November, the White House shifted into campaign mode and began issuing “Setting the Record Straight” talking points, all the time, as official White House statements. In the preceding 12 months, the Bush gang issued one of these campaign-style releases. Since Nov. 11, they’ve done nine.<\/p>\n
The latest is the Bush gang’s effort to take on<\/a> the warrantless-spying controversy head on. In other words, this is the White House’s best political shot — critics have had their say and this is the formal response on White House letterhead. If ever these guys were ever going to put a powerful argument out there, this was it.<\/p>\n And yet, they don’t have much.<\/p>\n Right off the bat, the quote at the top of the page<\/a> is from Scott McClellan, saying, “Critics have stepped up their attacks on the President for authorizing the National Security Agency to listen to international communications of known al Qaeda members or affiliated terrorists during a time of war.” It’s classic nonsense. Critics have questioned whether the president circumvented the law; McClellan’s quote suggests critics don’t want surveillance against terrorists.<\/p>\n Rhetorical foolishness aside, the “Setting the Record Straight” document includes three principal points<\/a>:<\/p>\n * “The NSA Authorization Is Solely For Intercepting Communications Of Suspected Al Qaeda Members Or Related Terrorist Groups<\/em>” — Well, maybe it is, that remains to be seen<\/a>. Regardless, the talking point intentionally misses the point. The administration should intercept every terrorist communication it can; it should also honor the rule of law and allow for some oversight in the process.<\/p>\n