Bush has been spying on innocent American citizens, pretending that it's all in aid of the War on Terror™. We have a law that requires the executive branch to seek permission of a special court before it can listen in on the conversations of American citizens. Bush ignored the law and thus he is a self-admitted criminal.

If you want some insight into the soul of the 21st Century Republican Party, consider that one of the their finest, Sen. Arlen Specter, has introduced a bill that is supposed to rectify the situation. Exactly why the situation needs to be rectified is not clear; the statute, on the other hand, is quite clear. If it wants to listen in on American citizens, the executive branch must explain to the FISA court why it feels the need to do so and the court must grant permission, which it invariably does.

From the Robo-Republican viewpoint, however, the problem is the law, not that the president has violated the law. They want to solve the problem by changing the law, not reining in the executive branch, which is what the law was intended to do in the first place.

The bill is a sham. It gives the president the power to ignore the law.

Specter is a scoundrel, along with any other Republican or Democrat that supports this bill.

References:

Balkinization: Specter Gives Up the Game-- The Sham NSA Bill

Feral Scholar (Stan Goff): Spectral Security

USA Today ignored Democratic criticism of Specter's FISA proposal