Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by me

Don't get played like a fiddle into being anti-WoT... that's what Rove wants.

Instapundit points to two links that make this case. First, Ann Althouse points out that the most politically shrewd D player has avoided the issue entirely:

Hillary Clinton. Has she said anything about the current domestic surveillance controversy? I think she had the good sense to see how this was going to play out and to leave her record clear of comments that would come back to haunt her.

Ace political analyst Mickey Kaus always understands this:

One reason the warrantless eavesdropping controversy may help, rather than hurt, Bush in the polls has more to do with the character of his administration than popular support for eavesdropping. In particular, Bush's tendency to hide behind a carapace of formal, not-completely-apposite justifications (e.g. "we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war on terror") leads voters to ask what is really going on behind the facade. The Katrina botch suggested not much--maybe Bush, as the left-wing caricatures always suggested, really was out to lunch, playing computer golf in the Oval Office while various Michael Brownian cronies held meetings to plan their wardrobes. That's why, if the Bushies have really had the energy to secretly do all sorts of illegal spying against terrorists, it's almost reassuring. At least they've been on the case, doing their job as they see it. The more thorough and secret the eavesdropping, the more reassuring on this score.

The biggest limiting factor in Presidential, or any public power at all, is not the law. The biggest limiting factor is the politics involved.