WHAT'S THE POINT OF BUSH'S ILLEGAL SPY PROGRAMS?

Chuck Dupree of Bad Attitudes perfectly articulates my own suspicions about the purpose of Bush's "track-everybody" illegal spy programs.

I find it difficult to believe that the Cheney administration will get any significant benefit from the database regarding the search for terrorists. Data mining seems to me to be best suited for data that’s scattered because it’s disorganized. But if the subjects of the search are aware they’re being searched for, and are working to frustrate the search, I don’t think data mining is going to be nearly as effective.

To put it bluntly, I doubt that fighting terrorism is the point of collecting all this data; it is at most the excuse.

I’m much more ready to believe that a government in which Rove still has a great deal of influence would subvert the democratic process and avoid legislative and judicial oversight to screw its political enemies. For one thing, this is Rove’s signature. For another, there are several Nixon- and Reagan-era dirty tricksters in the administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Elliot Abrams, Negroponte); and if anyone knew how to cheat the public out of its Constitutionally guaranteed control of the government, it was the unitary-executive types who supported Nixon and Reagan.

Tags: NSA spy program, CIA leak investigation, Bush Cheney