September 10

In response to the revelations that the White House used the full capacity of the US federal government to prevent the mass murder of 3,000 innocent people from happening again, some congressional Dems are musing about impeachment proceedings.

Legally, there are numerous instances where the US government spies on people without the need for a warrant.

Taken along with the McCain amendment and the reluctance to re-authorize the Patriot Act, National Review asks if American political culture has returned to a September 10 mentality:

The New York Times ignited the firestorm last Friday, of course, with a front-page report on how President Bush has authorized the eavesdropping on conversations without obtaining warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Democrats are rushing to accuse Bush of breaking the law and are even flirting with the I-word — impeachment — their favorite fantasy of the moment. While there is much yet to be learned about the NSA program, it seems very likely that no laws were broken and that President Bush was acting responsibly in a context where we are fighting a fast-moving, loosely organized enemy that uses the wonders of modern communications technology to aid its mass murder. The president still has preventing another September 11 foremost on his mind, even as much of the rest of political culture has lapsed back to September 10, when we hamstrung our own surveillance and law-enforcement capabilities in blissful unawareness of the enemy that was about to slaughter 3,000 Americans.