Secret Agent Man

[Secret Agent Maxwell Smart (played by Don Adams) speaks to his boss on his super-secret shoe-phone.]

From The Statesman.com - click here to read more...

During his news conference Wednesday, President Bush seriously distorted the position of critics of his program of wiretapping — without a court warrant — international telephone calls and e-mail that end or begin in the United States.

Here's what the president said: "I did notice that nobody from the Democratic Party has actually stood up and called for getting rid of the terrorist surveillance program. You know, if that's what they believe, if people in the party believe that, then they ought to stand up and say it. They ought to stand up and say, 'The tools we're using to protect the American people shouldn't be used.' "

But most Democrats, a number of Republicans and others, including this page, have never said to stop trying to listen or read the words of suspected terrorists. Their objection — as the president well knows — is to wiretapping without a warrant from a federal court. No president, regardless of party, should ever have the power to decide who should be wiretapped without being subject to judicial scrutiny.