Apropos USA Today's bombshell that President Bush has been collecting information on phone calls made by millions of innocent Americans, Spencer Ackerman has the progression of the Bush administration's ever-changing description of its illicit activities.
1) We're not doing it all
2) We only do it with warrant
3) We only do it targeting specific terrorists, calling to or from abroad, in narrow circumstances
4) ???
I know it can be hard to keep track, but this particular story is, in fact different from the others. And according to field expert Orin Kerr, the program almost definitely breaches 18 U.S.C. 3121 (and it does so even if the prior incarnations of the NSA wiretapping programs are legal, which is far from clear).
Oh, and why does Bill Frist have to be a prostitute for the Bush administration?
My sense is that #4 will be something along the lines of "we do it to everyone, but we're only using our powers for good." Then #5 will be "we do it to everyone, and it's harmful to people, but it prevents the greater harm of terrorism." Then #6 (god forbid we get this far) will be "you can't tell us what to do."
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