Delicate Dance for Bush in Depicting Spy Program as Asset (NYT)

[kpete]

Delicate Dance for Bush in Depicting Spy Program as Asset
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - With a campaign of high-profile national security events set for the next three days, following Karl Rove's blistering speech to Republicans on Friday, the White House has effectively declared that it views its controversial secret surveillance program not as a political liability but as an asset, a way to attack Democrats and re-establish President Bush's standing after a difficult year.

Whether the White House can succeed depends very much, members of both parties say, on its success in framing a complicated debate when the country is torn between its historic aversion to governmental intrusion and its recent fear of terrorist attacks at home.

.................

But as the White House and Democrats are well aware, the issue can draw very different reactions depending on how it is presented. These next few days could prove critical, as both Mr. Bush and Congressional Democrats move aggressively to define what is at stake.

Americans may be willing to support extraordinary measures - perhaps extralegal ones - if they are posed in the starkest terms of protecting the nation from another calamitous attack. They are less likely to be supportive, members of both parties say, if the question is presented as a president breaking the law to spy on the nation's own citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23spy.html?ei=5065&en=b8a73e937d46e97f&ex=1138597200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

[Inland]

1. They want to frame it as liberty vs security

when a) the exact same legitimate goals can be reached with the five minutes it takes to lie post hoc to get a warrant and b) the warrantless searches are producing no discernible good results.

If there were some sort of tradeoff, we'd have a debate. Instead, its an admin doing secretly what it knows would be disapproved of in a true debate.

[babylonsister]

2. Their spinning as fast as they can, aren't they? nt