Bush uses 4 year old news to sell his wiretapping plan

The planned attack on a Los Angeles building four years ago is being used to sell the administration's warrantless domestic spying program. And it looks like the sale is working:

In a new AP-Ipsos poll, 48 percent now support wiretapping without a warrant in cases of suspected communications with terrorists, up from 42 percent last month. Half say the administration should have to get a warrant, down from 56 percent. Men in particular have come around to Bush's view over the last month, the poll suggested.

The media is dutifully covering what amounts to publicizing a 4 year old event. Some details of the alleged plot were made public a year ago. This event reminds me of the heightened Homeland Security Department color alert 4 days before the last presidential election. There was alleged "chatter" among the terrorists about blowing up a building in the Wall Street area. The problem was, the incident came from 2 year old information. But it was useful enough to boost Bush's poll numbers, which were down, just a few days before the election.

There's no evidence that the four year old Los Angeles plot was discovered by domestic warrantless spying. Rather, it was uncovered by "aggressive questioning" of terrorists suspects.

The complete story from AP:
Bush: U.S. Surveillance Helped Stop Attack - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - Under fire for eavesdropping on Americans,
President Bush said Thursday that spy work stretching from the U.S. to Asia helped thwart terrorists plotting to use shoe bombs to hijack an airliner and crash it into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast."

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