1115.org

Reuters, reporting reactions to Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s ruling of Thursday:

Democrats questioned whether the (warrantless wiretapping) program has been effective, saying the administration has shown no evidence that terrorist plots have been disrupted by its use.

“Rather than make unsubstantiated claims about his program’s effectiveness, the president should listen to law enforcement officials and work with Congress to implement tough and smart policies to fight terrorism,” said a statement from the office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Bush said those who applaud the decision “simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live” and that the alleged British terror plot broken up last week was evidence that attacks were still being planned against American targets.

Funny how President Bush knows he needs the warrantless wiretap program in order to keep us safe. The London bomb plot was actually evidence that going through the process of obtaining warrants from the FISA court doesn’t interfere with keeping America safe. Of course, in the heat of the moment, President Bush entirely forgot to mention even once that the intelligence we supplied to the British was obtained after getting warrants from the FISA court. Apparently, just like the Democrats have been saying all along, the nature of the world in which we live is that having to get warrants first doesn’t interfere very much at all with anti-terrorist efforts.

Any moment now, President Bush will realize he forgot to make all this clear, and he will hold a press conference and say: “Oops!” Of course, if your IQ is greater than President Bush’s age, you won’t exactly be holding your breath.