Well, that didn't take long-- Bush lies about surveillance scope, process

It looks like Bush has already contradicted his man Hayden over this whole phone surveillance issue. A sharpie at Daily Kos picks up on one bold lie that's already emerged on the same day the story broke:

Bush: "Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their known affiliates," Bush said. "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans."

Hayden: ". . .And last week we cemented a deal with another corporate giant to jointly develop a system to mine data that helps us learn about our targets."

In a way, it's a shame the battle lines were drawn over this issue months ago. Repubs are already trotting out the same lines: this is war, this is patriotic, and this is necessary. Oh, and it definitely isn't a violation of civil rights. And to prove it, we'll reject any calls for investigation or transparency.

Except that this a concrete example of the executive branch violating the Constitution in order to impose fascistic control over the populace. To wit, Bush says the program is not widespread and "the privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected." But as anyone watching the news is now aware, tens of millions of citizens are under surveillance with no checks and balances from other branches of government.

And with his disapproval at about 65%, I don't think people are willing to swallow Fearless Leader's lies anymore. Especially when their as brazen and ridiculous as this.