58% (And We're Not Talking Approval)

Keep it secret, keep it safe

That's 58 percent of those polled by USAToday/CNN/Gallup who want a special prosecutor to investigate the warrantless wiretapping approved by President Bush:

Fifty-one percent of Americans said the administration was wrong to intercept conversations involving a party inside the USA without a warrant. In response to another question, 58% of Americans said they support the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the program. Both questions were asked of about 500 adults Friday through Sunday and have a margin of error of +/-5 percentage points. (Related: Poll results)

In other wiretapping news, Gen. Michael Hayden (deputy director of national intelligence and former director of the NSA) was also sent out to rally support for the BushCo administration's skirting of the law. Daily Kos has a number of good posts on it today, but this one by mcjoan is my favorite. Upon being queried on whether the Constitution's Fourth Amendment requires probable cause (which would certainly put the NSA's seemingly whale-sized fishing expedition in a very bad light), Hayden replied and reiterated:

GEN. HAYDEN: No, actually -- the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That's what it says.

QUESTION: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.

GEN. HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.

[...]

GEN. HAYDEN . . . Just to be very clear -- and believe me, if there's any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment.

But then mcjoan drops a bit of knowledge--the actual Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Ohhhhh, snap!