Bush Responds to Ruling Against Wiretaps

How often can Republicans play the fear card? Has U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's decision on wiretapping become the 2006 equivalent of a Massachusetts judge's legalization of same-sex marriage in 2004? Is this the rallying cry Republicans need to mobilize their base?

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Ruling Against Wiretaps Further Sharpens Partisan Divide

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 19, 2006

A federal judge's ruling that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping is unconstitutional set off a flurry of political responses yesterday, as Republicans tried to keep control of the national security debate amid signs that their own party's ranks may be breaking under the pressure of the Iraq war.

President Bush concluded a discussion on the economy with a challenge to Democrats, many of whom had hailed U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling that the NSA's wiretapping efforts violate both the Bill of Rights and federal law.

"Those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live," Bush said after meeting with his economic team at Camp David. "This country of ours is at war, and we must give those whose responsibility it is to protect the United States the tools necessary to protect this country in a time of war." (full story)