Media conservatives cited faulty poll to claim popular support for domestic spying program

A Newsweek article asserted that the reaction to the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying program was "predictably partisan," even though numerous Republican elected officials, conservative commentators, and newspapers that endorsed President Bush's re-election in 2004 also criticized the program.

A January 9 Newsweek article by assistant managing editor Evan Thomas and Washington bureau chief Daniel Klaidman asserted that after The New York Times broke the story that President Bush, apparently in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), has repeatedly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps of people in the United States without obtaining a warrant, "[t]he reaction was predictably partisan." According to Thomas and Klaidman, "Most Republicans and conservatives defended Bush for safeguarding the country (though warrantless spying gave libertarians some pause)," and most Democrats and liberals cited the program as evidence that Bush and Cheney "were running roughshod over civil liberties." But, contrary to Thomas and Klaidman's suggestion, numerous Republicans and conservatives have criticized the program, and it has inspired in some far more than mere "pause"; Bruce Fein, a noted conservative who served as deputy attorney general for President Reagan, said that Bush may have committed an impeachable offense. In addition, at least six newspapers that endorsed Bush's re-election in 2004 have criticized his surveillance program.

From the January 9 Newsweek article:

Asserting the broad warmaking powers conferred on the president by Article 2 of the Constitution and by a post-9/11 congressional resolution authorizing the use of force to combat global terror, Bush repeatedly approved of what the NSA calls a "special collection program" that eavesdropped--without warrants--on about 500 Americans a day.

When the story of the NSA's program broke in The New York Times on Dec. 16, there was an immediate uproar in the press and on Capitol Hill. The reaction was predictably partisan. Most Republicans and conservatives defended Bush for safeguarding the country (though warrantless spying gave libertarians some pause). Most Democrats and liberals cited the eavesdropping program as more damning evidence that Bush and Cheney, already caught countenancing torture and jailing detainees without any legal rights, were running roughshod over civil liberties.

Media Matters for America has compiled a list of current and former Republican officials and media figures who have criticized or raised questions about Bush's surveillance program. (A hat-tip to Think Progress for pulling together several of these examples, here and here.)

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200601040002

On The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that President Bush "kept all members of the Senate and House intelligence committees up to speed" on his program of domestic, warrantless electronic surveillance. But Republican and Democratic members of Congress have contradicted this assertion.

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200601030005