Americans Don't Like Being Spied On

If there's one thing Democrats, independents and Republicans agree on, it's that they don't like being spied on. A poll done by the Washington Post a few days ago seemed to imply that most Americans found it acceptable. But polls depend on how the questions are framed and the Washington Post's question favored Bush's spin too much. The reality is that NSA spying program is huge and is too easy to abuse.

Once again, Bush is asking the American people to trust him but he has betrayed that trust numerous times now in his administration. Here's a Newsweek poll that says a majority of Americans are not happy with the NSA spying:

May 13, 2006 - Has the Bush administration gone too far in expanding the powers of the President to fight terrorism? Yes, say a majority of Americans, following this week’s revelation that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens since the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent of Americans think the NSA’s surveillance program “goes too far in invading people’s privacy,” while 41 percent see it as a necessary tool to combat terrorism.

President Bush tried to reassure the public this week that its privacy is “fiercely protected,” and that “we’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans.” Nonetheless, Americans think the White House has overstepped its bounds: 57 percent said that in light of the NSA data-mining news and other executive actions, the Bush-Cheney Administration has “gone too far in expanding presidential power.”

I wish the pollsters would ask more pointed questions such as: the NSA has secretly been collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans; do you believe there are tens of millions of Americans who are al Qaida suspects?

Or, if you send an e-mail, would you be uncomfortable if you knew the government had some knowledge about the content of that e-mail?

Or, do you trust Bush and Cheney not to play politics with the phone calls and e-mail information the government is collecting? Or, do you believe Bush is being straight with the American people when he talks about the NSA spying program?

Or, do you believe the government needs a warrant before it looks at your e-mail or listens in on your calls? I can think of other questions that aren't going to get the phony numbers that The Washington Post got.

Everybody should keep in mind that there have been no investigations and what we know about the programs is going to change very rapidly if there are investigations. The fact that this issue appear to scare Bush speaks volumes.