Right or wrong, if we are considered in a time of war, and under threat, Bush's actions are entirely consistent with other president's in our nation's history.
Not true.
First of all, we aren't in a war. The Congress did not declare war. We have troops in Iraq, but the US Citizens that the Bush Admin was secretly and illegally monitoring were not involved with Iraq.
They refuse to release a list of who the 500+ people were. There is no oversight. It's possible (I would argue highly likely) that John Kerry was one of the people they spied on. After all, there's no one to stop them.
Additionally, under what other President has the executive branch had the ability to strip a US Citizen of not just their rights, but they citizenship? With the Patriot Act, not just Bush, but the Attorney General has the right to strip you, Randman, of your US citizenship - even though you are not a dual-citizen (I assume)
That's brand new power. And it's completely unchecked. Just like the imprisonments, the torture, the kidnapping of foreign citizens.
This whole "We are at war" because the President says we are at war is circular.
"I need more power because we are at war, so don't question my powers because we are at war. We are at war because I say we are at war. I have the power to say we are war because I gave myself the power because we are at war."
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