Weighing in on the Rove "fear" strategy, Cheney threw the domestic spying scandal in to their campaign strategy. The interesting thing about this speech is that Cheney gave it at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). That crowd includes a lot of "black-helicopter" types, like NRA leaders, who fear government intrusion. Numerous leading conservatives have spoken out against the Bush domestic spying operation including David Keene the head of the American Conservative Union which sponsors CPAC. The opposition is increasingly bi-partisan. Yet, Rove/Bush/Cheney want it to be a political issue:
Vice President Cheney suggested last night that the debate over spying on overseas communications to or from terrorism suspects should be a political issue in this year's congressional elections.A bigger political issue is, of course, that Cheney's top aide, Sccoter Libby, got indicted for undermining national security. Yesterday, the National Journal reported that Libby got permission to leak national security info. from Cheney himself.
Speaking to Republicans gathered for the annual CPAC convention, Cheney said the debate over the National Security Agency surveillance program "has clarified where all stand" on an issue that has drawn criticism from congressional Democrats and some Republicans.
