Even Bush's Justice Dept. wouldn't approve the spying program

The Bush Justice Department, which is now going investigating who leaked the story about the illegal domestic spying program, wouldn't even approve the program we learn in today's New York Times:

A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.

The concerns prompted two of President Bush's most senior aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general - to make an emergency visit to a Washington hospital in March 2004 to discuss the program's future and try to win the needed approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, the officials said.

The unusual meeting was prompted because Mr. Ashcroft's top deputy, James B. Comey, who was acting as attorney general in his absence, had indicated he was unwilling to give his approval to certifying central aspects of the program, as required under the White House procedures set up to oversee it.

There is so much to say based on this article. Of course, the DOJ is now headed by Alberto Gonzales. No wonder DOJ is not investigating whether a crime was committed. The head of the department was an accomplice to the President's illegality. Yet, that same DOJ, under the leadership of John Ashcroft no less, had "concerns about its legality and oversight."

When Congress holds hearings (if they ever get the spine to do it), their first witness should be James B. Comey. If the GOP won't have real hearings, the Democrats need to play hard ball. If the GOP won't call Comey as a witness, the Democrats need to play hard ball. No hearings, no key witnesses, then no action in the Senate. Respect for the rule of law is critical to the functioning of a democracy. No one is above the law as the GOPers kept saying when they trivialized the impeachment process during the Clinton/Lewinsky saga.

Now, we are faced with a President who believes he can break the law with impunity. That can't be swept under the rug in a true democracy.