You might want to take a look at Glenn Greenwald's latest post, the contents of which should be pretty much the opening segment of every evening news show. He points out that in 2002 Senator DeWine proposed the legislation which would've amended the FISA law to lower the burden necessary from probable cause to reasonable suspicion (one caveat, for non-US persons only), precisely what our constitution-challenged former NSA head was claiming was why they "had to" break the law. He also claimed they sought such changes but Congress wouldn't give it to them.
The kicker? The Bush Justice Department opposed the law on constitutional concerns.
Let's recap the Bush talking points as they've been shot down.
The program was some super-technology thing! Not true.
The program was necessary because the FISA court doesn't allow them to act fast enough. Not true.
The program was necessary because Congress wouldn't let us lower the necessary burden . Not true - they opposed a similar measure themselves.
Once again, all we're left with is:
They wanted to spy on whoever they wanted to without any oversight or accountability.
That's it.
