Daschle - Congress did not grant secret spying authorization

This should have been on the front page, not buried on A04 but it's a bombshell that blows the latest Bush excuses on domestic spying to smithereens. When Bush asked Congress for his "war powers" he asked that language be added at the eleventh hour authorizing carte blanche powers within the borders of the US and the Congress specifically denied that request.

Amazing how the Beltway crowd has suddenly regained long term memories. More importantly they've become willing to share. Hot on the heels of Jay Rockefeller's disclosure of his letter of protest after being informed of the administration's secret war on Americans, Tom Daschle steps forward with this.

"Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words 'in the United States and' after 'appropriate force' in the agreed-upon text," Daschle wrote. "This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused."

Daschle wrote that Congress also rejected draft language from the White House that would have authorized the use of force to "deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States," not only against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.

The appropriate response here is, Holy police state Batman - Bush wants authority to conduct pre-emptive military strikes against American citizens. I can't to wait to see how the Bush apologists spin this one. I'm betting they call it a partisan attack by Bush haters.