Miss-tater of the nation

Laura Bush, perhaps the only person left in the White House with a positive approval/disapproval spread, misstates the issue at hand:

First lady Laura Bush said Sunday that the U.S. government is right to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists, and that President Bush worries that revelations about the domestic spying program will cripple efforts to foil terrorists.

"I think the American people expect the United States government and the president to do what they can to make sure there's not an attack by foreign terrorists," Mrs. Bush said just before landing here to begin a four-day stay in West Africa.

"I think he was worried that it would undermine our efforts by alerting terrorists to what our efforts are," she said.

As other have made quite clear, the matter is a legal one. Bush could have easily done what he did in the parameters of existing law. He could have protected the state of the nation while protecting the nation as well.

But he didn't.

The President instead has taken a position that a most of his supporters disagreed with before they knew he had done it. And now their opinion has swung a bit, and they are forced to justify something they will be vilifying Bill Clinton for.

And for the record, had Bill Clinton done it, I'd be against it just the same.