Centerblue.org

The snipping sounds of the political scissors being applied to Bush’s testicles are getting louder. Wisely deciding to pick his battles more carefully in the wake of the Congressional trouncing the GOP received last month, Bush has decreed that his wireless surveillance program will now be submitted to the jurisdiction of the FISA court for review, instead of petulantly insisting he can order such illegal activities under the authority of the Constitution’s Article II.

The Neocon Right is pissed:

Is there no principle subject to negotiation? Is there no course subject to reversal? For the Bush administration to argue for years that this program, as operated, was critical to our national security and fell within the president’s Constitutional authority, to then turnaround and surrender presidential authority this way is disgraceful. The administration is repudiating all the arguments it has made in testimony, legal briefs, and public statements. This goes to the heart of the White House’s credibility. How can it cast away such a fundamental position of principle and law like this? –Mark Levin, National Review

Bush is submitting because he has no choice. He has no political capital left and cannot continue to oppose the American people on so many issues. It is clear to all (except to the National Review) that this warrantless surveillance program was illegal, it violated the 4th Amendment, and that submitting a warrantless wiretap for FISA emergency review did nothing to dimish the president’s powers to protect the country against terrorism. It was a fight he simply could not win.